Our Blog

Thoughts, stories and ideas.

Shanghai – A Flagship City

From a fishing village in the 11th Century, to the world’s busiest port today, Shanghai has long been synonymous with international trade and commerce.

Published 11th March 2019 • Tags team-thoughts, market-visits
Chinese Retailers Entering the UK

It’s been just over a year since I left China to join Geolytix, back in the UK.

Published 14th November 2018 • Tags team-thoughts
Open EU 2011 Census Data Pack

Free is an odd word. Free has a duality; gratis “for free”, and libre “with few restrictions”.

Published 13th November 2018 • Tags open-data, census
4 Years of Retail Points

It’s been 4 years since the first release of Retail Points (previously Open Supermarkets) and hasn’t it been an exciting time in the world of grocery.

Published 23rd October 2018 • Tags open-data
From Ahmedabad to Zibo

It’s gone unbelievably quickly but we are now six months in to our Asia Pacific adventure with Geolytix offices now up and running in Tokyo and Shanghai.

Published 18th May 2018 • Tags our-team, market-visits
A mostly True Fairy Tale (any similarities to the 2004 Morrisons/Safeway merger are purely co-incidental)

Long long ago, in a land not very far away, the King of GeoConsultingInc was not happy, not happy at all.

Published 30th April 2018 • Tags team-thoughts
Official Chop! GEOLYTIX China opens its doors

GEOLYTIX announces its official registration in China; the country with largest population and second largest economy! We now have our chop…

Published 25th April 2018 • Tags our-team
Creamstastic: An explosion of ice cream parlours

Ice cream parlours make me think of a Sunday afternoon, currant tea cake, jersey ice cream and miniature train ride at Charlottes in West Yorkshire. Times have changed.

Published 9th December 2017 • Tags market-visits
Retail Points Updated

6 facts about this release for the 6th day of December.

Published 6th December 2017 • Tags open-data
Geolytix Leeds

We are pleased to announce the opening of our second UK office.

Published 29th November 2017 • Tags our-team
MAPIC – what’s it all about?

Last week Sarah and I were lucky enough to exhibit at MAPIC in Cannes with ESRI, one of our long-standing partners.

Published 23rd November 2017 • Tags our-team
European Census Data and Boundaries

Censuses have been a critical element of running a civilisation since civilisation began.

Published 7th November 2017 • Tags open-data, census
Republic of Ireland Retail Places

Retail Places is one of our most popular datasets. We have now expanding this to Republic of Ireland.

Published 23rd October 2017 • Tags geodata
European Fast Fashion Sweeping the West End

In my June blog, I discussed my view on the future of Oxford Street, coming to the conclusion that although it faced some challenges, it was still an attractive shopping destination that would remain strong well into the future.

Published 17th October 2017 • Tags market-visits
FOSS4G Boston 2017

From August 13th – 19th Dennis & Kerst flew to Boston to take part in the annual FOSS4G conference – thanks GEOLYTIX!

Published 8th September 2017 • Tags our-team
Public Transport Data

Public transport data is fundamental to any consumer-orientated location planning project.

Published 7th September 2017 • Tags geodata
The changing face of Enfield. Ditching mainstream fashion for wine tasting, a pedicure and a Cuban night

I moved to Enfield 13 years ago, leaving Crouch End to take advantage of the lower house prices.

Published 24th July 2017 • Tags team-thoughts, market-visits
We’ve nearly outgrown our favourite Curly Whirly cake

We were delighted to welcome Agata and Dan to our growing team last month.

Published 7th July 2017 • Tags our-team
Education Data 2017

Currently in the UK, about 25% of the population are in education.

Published 20th June 2017 • Tags geodata
The Future of Oxford Street: Strength to Strength or Fighting for Survival?

London’s Oxford Street is one of the busiest shopping destinations in the world with a history stretching back well over 100 years.

Published 6th June 2017 • Tags team-thoughts, market-visits
Retail Points Update - May 2017

Not only has it been busy in the Geolytix office but as always in the turbulent world of food retail there having been many announcements over the past few months.

Published 31st May 2017 • Tags open-data, geodata
GEOLYTIX Point of Interest Data 2017

Location planning spans a wide range of industries from retail to the public sector. Complex decisions require a multitude of inputs, and that is where Geolytix’s Point of Interest (POI) data can be used.

Published 22nd May 2017 • Tags geodata
Administrative Boundaries > OpenStreetMap

Here at GEOLYTIX we believe that the best available administrative boundaries data should be open and easily accessible. We are a little vain in respect to our maps. Badly fitting boundaries should not be crossed out.

Published 31st March 2017 • Tags open-data
We’re still telling our customers where to go – a year in the world of location planning and network strategy

Whilst for many 2016 was heavily tainted by Brexit and Trump, for Geolytix it has been a year of establishing our European and Global Strategy.

Published 30th March 2017 • Tags team-thoughts, our-team
Fresh Trader: Can a wholesaler succeed on the high street?

We welcome back Angela, our guest blogger, who shares her view on a different kind of grocery store…

Published 14th March 2017 • Tags market-visits, team-thoughts
Birmingham New Street/Grand Central: A space fit for the 21st century

On a fleeting visit to Birmingham I had some time to explore the redeveloped area at Grand Central/ New Street station.

Published 3rd March 2017 • Tags market-visits
Fishnets, Honeycombs and Footballs – Better spatial models with hexagonal grids.

I love the unique mathematical properties of hexagonal tiling for spatial analysis and the inherent possibility to create beautiful bi-variate hex maps.

Published 3rd March 2017 • Tags team-thoughts
Bunnings first UK opening: An Aussie sausage sizzle in the snow

The shake up of the UK DIY sector recently got underway in St Albans with the opening of the first UK Bunnings.

Published 21st February 2017 • Tags market-visits
Smiles and Giggles = Smiggle

We’re excited to post our first guest blog. Angela shares her take on one of the new retailers to hit the UK…

Published 6th February 2017 • Tags market-visits
Happy New Year!

So we have survived our first work week of 2017 – even if it was only 4 days.

Published 8th January 2017 • Tags our-team
The Dining Club – IKEA

“It doesn’t matter what you make, it’s the people that are the best ingredients.”

Published 10th November 2016 • Tags market-visits
Retail Points Update - October 2016

Since the last release of Retail Points the Netto and Sainsburys joint venture trial has ended resulting in closure of all 16 stores.

Published 19th October 2016 • Tags open-data
FOSS4G 2016 – Bonn

Last week Geolytix touched down in Bonn for the 2016 FOSS4G.

Published 30th August 2016 • Tags our-team
Veggie Pret – Not just for Veggie’s

During the month of June Pret A Manger opened a pop-up vegetarian store – not a ‘new concept store’, they acknowledged.

Published 14th July 2016 • Tags market-visits
Location Planning and Data Analytics firm Geolytix win Queen’s Award for Enterprise

London-based Geolytix have today won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for creating innovative spatial algorithms that help retailers profitably attract and serve customers in a complex multi-channel world.

Published 1st July 2016 • Tags our-team, awards
Open Supermarkets now known as Retail Points

Today sees the release of the latest instalment of Open Supermarkets, we have now renamed this Retail Points.

Published 5th April 2016 • Tags open-data