General purpose geodemographic systems summarises a broad range of profiling data, largely derived from the census to create a thumbnail sketch of the type of people living in a particular small area. In Australia this is either CD or sub-CD area like a Meshblock.
The types of characteristic mainly taken into account in geodemographic system construction are…
- Age distribution
- Socioeconomic status indicators like Income, Education & Occupational Status
- Household & family composition
- Employment factors like, type of Job, type of Industry worked in and hours of work
- Cultural factors like, Ethnicity, Languages Spoken, Country of Birth and Religion
- Household economic factors like Indebtedness, Investments and Poverty
- Regionality factors like Metropolitan, Provincial and Sparsely Settled
- Residential stability
Geodemographic systems were first introduced as social analysis tools in the UK in the late 70’s and 80’s. They were introduced into Australia in 1987 with CCN's (later Experian) introduction of the Mosaic system. rda built its first system in 1990.
General purpose geodemographic systems are the workhorses of the industry, however geodemographic systems can be made more “advanced” in a number of ways...
- Firstly, the accuracy & relevance of database profiling information can be enhanced by incorporation of some known factual characteristics from the customer database at the time of tagging. This is the type of enhancement process employed in rda’s geoStages®, geoTribes® and easyTag® systems.
- A second way in which geodemographic systems are more advanced is through incorporation of extensive profiling information such as for household expenditure, income, loans & investments, health, social resources, lifestyle activities and household technology. This is the approach used in rda’s geoProphet® and easyTarget® systems.
- A third way in which geodemographic systems may become more advanced is through their ability to be customised to specific marketing problems. Examples of this type of system are rda’s easyTarget® profiles and customised predictive modeling scores.
There is a lot happening in geodemographics throughout the world, particularly in the UK, which is at the forefront of technical developments in the field. Here are some interesting UK references…
Market Research Society of the UK Geodemographics Knowledge Base
The site has been produced by the Census and Geodemographics Group of MRS, the world’s largest association representing providers and users of market ...
www.geodemographics.org.uk
The Future of Geodemographics - conference presentations
2 April - This one-day conference brought together experts from all sides of the information industry to talk from their various perspectives about the future of Geodemographics, the impact of new data sources and the implications for society...
www.mrs.org.uk/networking/cgg/cggmar08_prog.htm
Internet-based neighbourhood information systems and their consequences...
17 October - This study from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation looks at the emergence of internet-based information systems (IBNIS), examining a range of sites in detail. Based on interviews with those involved in the development of such sites in the UK and USA, it looks at how technology can be used to classify and sort people and places.
www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/housing/0405.asp
A little known fact about using the Place of Usual Residence data from the 2006 Australian Census is the under-enumeration of the Occupied Private Dwellings measure of households. Analysts ignore this problem at their peril. rda has done a lot of research on this matter and produced the following document for use by its clients. document for use by its clients. Please contact rda to get a copy of this enlightening paper.
The ABS provides a portal for access to the 2001 and 2006 Census databases on their website. The data is accessible by location and topic and is supported by a mapping capability. If you have a straightforward need, then this may be just the thing for you. Check it out at www.censusdata.abs.gov.au.
