Trade Area Analysis Module:
Companion Instructor Guide
Module link: https://connect.rit.edu/tradeareaanalysis/
1.
2.
Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1
Activities ..................................................................................................................... 1
Using American FactFinder (~1 – 1.5hr) ........................................................................ 1
Web Map Utilities (~0.5hr)............................................................................................. 2
Using Demographic Data in Google Earth (~2hr) .......................................................... 2
Using Demographic Data to Market Products (~1 – 1.5hr) ............................................ 3
Business Site Suitability Analysis Tutorial (~1 – 2hr) ................................................... 3
BusinessMap demonstration videos (~0.5hr each – ~4 hrs total) ................................... 3
Trade Area Analysis Lab Series or Project (~6 – 8 hr)................................................... 4
3. Articles and Readings ................................................................................................. 4
4. Websites ...................................................................................................................... 5
1. Introduction
This companion guide is designed to accompany the Trade Area Analysis Module. It provides
additional activities and resources that can be used to further explain concepts covered in the
module and expand students’ understanding of geospatial information technology and how it
can be used in the food and beverage manufacturing and processing industry in the Finger Lakes
Region of New York State.
2. Activities
These suggested activities will vary in scope based on the nature of the course and the knowledge
base of the instructor.
Using American FactFinder (~1 – 1.5hr)
Anticipated Outcomes:
Upon completion of this activity students will have an understanding of census geography and
the demographic information and tools available from the American FactFinder website that can
be used to evaluate potential business locations based on demographics.
Overview:
Develop a scenario for students that will require them to gather demographic information for a
business expansion, similar to the case study in this module. Students will use the U.S. Census
Bureau’s American FactFinder website to gather demographic data. Have students navigate to
This workforce solution was funded by a grant awarded under the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative as implemented by
the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration. The solution was created by the grantee and does not
necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Labor. The Department of Labor makes no guarantees, warranties, or
assurances of any kind, express or implied, with respect to such information, including any information on linked sites and including,
but not limited to, accuracy of the information or its completeness, timeliness, usefulness, adequacy, continued availability, or
ownership. This solution is copyrighted by the institution that created it. Internal use by an organization and/or personal use by an
individual for non-commercial purposes is permissible. All other uses require the prior authorization of the copyright owner.
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the American FactFinder Website and become familiar with the information available at different
levels of geography (i.e., state, county, city/town, zip code). What demographic information
would be useful to them in working through the scenario? Make sure to ultimately have them get
down to the zip code level, and click on some of the ‘map’ links next to the statistics to explore
the mapping interface that provides information aggregated to the Census tract, block group, and
block levels. Students can also download and explore additional American FactFinder exercises.
Resources Needed:
Internet access.
Web Map Utilities (~0.5hr)
Anticipated Outcomes:
Upon completion of this activity students will be able to locate businesses using Google Maps
and/or Bing Maps, and use their features to draw conclusions about that business.
Overview:
Have students use Google Maps to locate a place of business. If available, use Street View to
view the surrounding area. What conclusions might a potential customer draw based on what
they can see in Google Maps? Use Bing Maps and Birds eye view to do the same thing. Is one site
more suitable for exploring certain questions?
Resources Needed:
Internet access, Google Maps, Bing Maps
Using Demographic Data in Google Earth (~2hr)
Anticipated Outcomes:
Upon completion of this activity students will be able to download demographic data and
convert it to KML for viewing in Google Earth.
Overview:
Have students download demographic data from American FactFinder and convert it to a format
that can be used in Google Earth. Students will need to download the AFF Mapper setup
program and User Guide. The user guide explains how to download demographic data and
convert it to KML. Students should download the demographic data for a scenario for a
metropolitan area and display it in Google Earth for visualization and analysis along with other
layers relevant to the scenario. Are there certain spatial patterns that are shown by viewing
American FactFinder demographic data in Google Earth that were not as visible by just viewing
the raw data? Have students discuss why viewing demographic data in a geospatial software
application might be useful.
Resources Needed:
Internet access, Google Earth, AFF Mapper (download).
This workforce solution was funded by a grant awarded under the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative as implemented by
the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration. The solution was created by the grantee and does not
necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Labor. The Department of Labor makes no guarantees, warranties, or
assurances of any kind, express or implied, with respect to such information, including any information on linked sites and including,
but not limited to, accuracy of the information or its completeness, timeliness, usefulness, adequacy, continued availability, or
ownership. This solution is copyrighted by the institution that created it. Internal use by an organization and/or personal use by an
individual for non-commercial purposes is permissible. All other uses require the prior authorization of the copyright owner.
2
Using Demographic Data to Market Products (~1 – 1.5hr)
Anticipated Outcomes:
Upon completion of this activity students will have an understanding of how demographic data
may be used to appropriately market a product.
Overview:
Provide students with a list of demographic statistics that are available in GIS map format by
either using the activity from Using Demographic Data in Google Earth or the website
DataMasher. Have them identify a product and discuss what demographic information would
be important for marketing that product, for example, age distribution might be very important
for marketing the newest electronic gadgets. Students should create a couple maps that reflect
target market areas having favorable demographic profiles.
Resources Needed:
Internet access, DataMasher website and Google Earth.
Business Site Suitability Analysis Tutorial (~1 – 2hr)
Anticipated Outcomes:
Upon completion of this activity students should have an understanding of some of the GIS
processes that are used for business site suitability analysis.
Overview:
Have the students complete the ‘Conduct a Site Suitability Analysis’ section of GIS Tutorial 9,
Spatial Analysis and associated assignments on pages 308-315 of ESRI’s GIS Tutorial: Workbook for
ArcView 9.
Resources Needed:
ESRI’s ArcGIS Desktop software and GIS Tutorial: Workbook for ArcView 9 by Gorr and Kurland.
BusinessMap demonstration videos (~0.5hr each – ~4 hrs total)
Anticipated Outcomes:
Upon completion of this activity students should have an understanding of how to use a basic
GIS business geographics software package.
Overview:
Have the students complete the series of tutorials about using BusinessMap software.
Resources Needed:
 BusinessMap Basics 1 – http://vid01.esri.com/winmmedia/busmap/BusinessMap1.wmv
 BusinessMap Basics 2 – http://vid01.esri.com/winmmedia/busmap/BusinessMap2.wmv
 Customizing the Map – http://vid01.esri.com/winmmedia/busmap/BusinessMap3.wmv
 Plotting Your Data – http://vid01.esri.com/winmmedia/busmap/BusinessMap4.wmv
 Making a Route - http://vid01.esri.com/winmmedia/busmap/BusinessMap5.wmv
This workforce solution was funded by a grant awarded under the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative as implemented by
the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration. The solution was created by the grantee and does not
necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Labor. The Department of Labor makes no guarantees, warranties, or
assurances of any kind, express or implied, with respect to such information, including any information on linked sites and including,
but not limited to, accuracy of the information or its completeness, timeliness, usefulness, adequacy, continued availability, or
ownership. This solution is copyrighted by the institution that created it. Internal use by an organization and/or personal use by an
individual for non-commercial purposes is permissible. All other uses require the prior authorization of the copyright owner.
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Color Coding – http://vid01.esri.com/winmmedia/busmap/BusinessMap6.wmv
Creating Territories – http://vid01.esri.com/winmmedia/busmap/BusinessMap7.wmv
Creating Reports – http://vid01.esri.com/winmmedia/busmap/BusinessMap8.wmv
Additional Datasets - http://vid01.esri.com/winmmedia/busmap/AddData.wmv
Trade Area Analysis Lab Series or Project (~6 – 8 hr)
Anticipated Outcomes:
Upon completion of this activity students should have a detailed understanding of how to
conduct business geographic analyses relevant to food and beverage industry retail operations
using actual GIS software.
Overview:
Have the students conduct a detailed project whereby they must analyze the trade areas of a local
chain of 2 - 4 grocery stores. Provide them with a database of customers for each of the stores.
They must then evaluate the data in the context of the regional trade area (e.g., locations of their
stores, competitor stores, consumer demographics, etc.), and develop map products that store
management could use to better understand their competitive position in the marketplace. The
project would involve address geocoding, and would require the development of appropriate
Spider Diagrams, Ring Studies, and Drive Time Analyses. The sample customer data provided
should be developed so that the students’ analyses should reveal areas of customer overlap,
pockets of demographically unique customers, especially competitive areas, etc.
Resources Needed:
BusinessMap or some other business geographics software/data package.
3. Articles and Readings
These readings provide more case studies and information about how existing businesses are
utilizing GIT to improve their business.
 Brands Rely Less on Intuition, More on Technology for Site Selection:
http://www.nrn.com/article.aspx?id=364000
 GIS Tutorial: Workbook for ArcView 9. Gorr, W.L., and K.S. Kurland. ESRI Press, Redlands,
CA. 2005
 GIS Helps Find Profitable Locations for Schlotzsky’s Deli:
http://www.directionsmag.com/features.php?feature_id=16
 Market Mapping: A Project to Teach Business Students about Business Geographics:
http://www.directionsmag.com/features.php?feature_id=16
 Retail Trade Area Analysis: Concepts and New Approaches:
http://www.directionsmag.com/features.php?feature_id=5
 Retail Trade Area Analysis Using the Huff Model:
http://www.directionsmag.com/article.php?article_id=896
This workforce solution was funded by a grant awarded under the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative as implemented by
the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration. The solution was created by the grantee and does not
necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Labor. The Department of Labor makes no guarantees, warranties, or
assurances of any kind, express or implied, with respect to such information, including any information on linked sites and including,
but not limited to, accuracy of the information or its completeness, timeliness, usefulness, adequacy, continued availability, or
ownership. This solution is copyrighted by the institution that created it. Internal use by an organization and/or personal use by an
individual for non-commercial purposes is permissible. All other uses require the prior authorization of the copyright owner.
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4. Websites
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American FactFinder: http://factfinder.census.gov/
American FactFinder Exercises:
http://www.census.gov/econ/census07/www/using_american_factfinder/exercises.html
AFF Mapper setup program and User Guide:
http://tnatlas.geog.utk.edu/downloadfree.htm
Bing Maps: http://www.bing.com/maps/
Data Masher: http://www.datamasher.org/
ESRI ArcGIS Desktop: http://www.esri.com/products/index.html
ESRI BusinessMap: http://www.esri.com/software/busmap/
ESRI GIS for Business page: http://www.esri.com/industries/business/index.html
ESRI Business Analyst Online: http://www.esri.com/software/bao/index.html
ESRI Business Analyst Software:
http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/extensions/businessanalyst/index.html
Google Maps: http://maps.google.com
North American Business Industry Classification System Overview:
http://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics/
North American Business Industry Classification Systems Database:
http://censtats.census.gov/cbpnaic/cbpnaic.shtml
Social Explorer: http://www.socialexplorer.com/pub/home/home.aspx
U.S. Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/
This workforce solution was funded by a grant awarded under the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative as implemented by
the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration. The solution was created by the grantee and does not
necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Labor. The Department of Labor makes no guarantees, warranties, or
assurances of any kind, express or implied, with respect to such information, including any information on linked sites and including,
but not limited to, accuracy of the information or its completeness, timeliness, usefulness, adequacy, continued availability, or
ownership. This solution is copyrighted by the institution that created it. Internal use by an organization and/or personal use by an
individual for non-commercial purposes is permissible. All other uses require the prior authorization of the copyright owner.
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