STI: PopViews (Fall 2008)

STI: BlockPoint

BlockPoint Takes Trade Area Research Beyond the Block Group

STI: BlockPoint is the first quarterly population-estimating product to give retailers, developers, and other businesses access to over 1,000 fields of residential data at the block point level versus the traditional block group level. It is an add-on product to STI: PopStats.

While the United States is divided into nearly 209,000 block groups, it has over eight million block points. Estimating populations at the block group level has been the de facto standard in trade area research, but it often presents challenges - especially the further out we get from the 2000 Census. One problem is that many previously low-density U.S. block groups are gaining populations they didn't have back in 2000. Most current population estimates average out population counts across entire block groups, some of which can be several square miles. Sometimes this can minimize the effectiveness of trade area research. For example, if a block group suddenly gets an influx of residents, it's quite possible that all of the growth could be occurring in just one corner of the block group. The precision of BlockPoint will solve this problem.

Just as STI: PopStats gets its estimating strength from a unique calculation that combines the U.S. Census with residential ZIP+four postal codes, BlockPoint also gets its precision from the same methodology. However, BlockPoint takes the population calculation one step further by identifying growth areas within block groups. For example, if 1,000 people have moved into a block group with ten block points, but 70 percent of the people have moved into only three of the block points, BlockPoint will identify those specific three block points and provide both population estimates and growth percentages.

Also, just like PopStats, BlockPoint delivers the most robust range of residential population data available today in a quarterly format. Fields of data include households, incomes, home values, expenditures, lifestyles, transience, ancestries, and more. The robustness of this population data meets the varying research needs of a wide range of location-driven businesses. With its new level of precision and robust data set, BlockPoint both minimizes the challenges of expanding into high-growth block groups and maximizes the business opportunities that exist in these desirable areas.

BlockPoint will be updated quarterly. For a sample of the new product in action, please contact us.

New Initiatives Underway at STI

The current Zeitgeist of today's business world demands two fundamental conditions: constant contact and vast amounts of information. PopStats is taking action on both fronts with STI: DataDepot, STI: Community, a blog, and a new STI website. The STI: DataDepot launched in the summer of 2008. The other three initiatives will launch in the summer of 2009.

We describe each of these initiatives inside this issue of PopViews.

STI: DataDepot

Freeing Your Research Potential

The mission of STI: DataDepot is to make Synergos Technologies' wide world of data products available to all PopStats users for free. For years, STI developed terabytes of data in MapInfo® formats. Now, this vast universe of data products is freely available to all PopStats users for their GIS research activities. The data includes Tiger data, USGS data, demographic data, ISIS data (source code), satellite visual imagery, and more. We consider the STI: DataDepot to be one of the "perks" of being a PopStats user. We hope you find it to be a valuable resource. Let us know what you think.

STI: Community

Bringing PopStats Users Together

Projected Launch Date: Summer 2009

PopStats' users have told us we are a leader in customer service - however, we are not resting on our laurels. We are taking our interactive client communication philosophy to the next level by giving all of our clients a place to communicate with us and with other each other. STI: Community will be essentially a "Private Club" for PopStats members only, in which you can communicate anonymously, share information, and learn more about PopStats expanding suite of products.

Our vision for STI: Community is similar to our vision for our Annual User Conference - to share PopStats news and insights and give our users a chance for peer-to-peer discussions on business issues that are important to them. As an extension of this objective, STI: Community will provide PopStats users with a centralized, convenient, and secure place to:

• Discuss problems and possible solutions
• Debate new product ideas
• Cite research issues
• Make research-related inquiries
• Announce new development projects
• Post job notices
• Share relevant news reports

The new STI: Community will grow and evolve based on PopStats users' ideas, requests, and comments. So please send us your thoughts on this new initiative when it launches to help us shape its future direction.

STI: Blog

Projected Launch Date: Summer 2009

We began sharing our views with PopStats users through PopViews in early 2006. Then we realized that we wanted a way for our clients to share their views. To this end, we are developing a blog where we will post regular commentary related to our industry and where our clients will be able to post their opinions.

The mission of our new blog will be to share our insights with PopStats users, to spark conversations among our products' users and to encourage an even more extensive dialogue with users than ever before.

PopStats.com - New Website

Expanding Our Internet Footprint

Projected Launch Date: Summer 2009

We are currently working on upgrading the PopStats.com Web site to achieve several goals, including better information organization, more in-depth content on STI products, and more frequent postings of news. Our goal for our new Web site is not only to make PopStats.com more accessible to prospects, but also to make the site more relevant for existing PopStats users who want to stay current on all of our new product developments and research findings as they occur. Look for our new website to launch this coming summer.

Announcements