As sort of a side answer: there are plenty of companies that do GIS data mining. One of the bigger ones in the business is ESRI (Redlands Calif).
What they do is (using population data) create various maps of areas, based on population numbers, and then the company (or municipality) makes their own decisions on whether to start the business.
Here’s an example that I am personally familiar with:
A city wanted to know, based on 5-year population projections, where to build a local public library, and how much square footage would be for the adult room and the children’s department.
So they looked at:
- Average education level of adults in the household (theory: higher degrees means more likely to read and use the library)
- Average age of adults, # of children, ages of children (theory: younger families will use the library more for story hour and related activities – but not too young)
- Growth rate in adult population (theory: that population will grow in the next 5–10 years and need library services)
- Average adult to commute to employment (theory: people with long commutes are unlikely to have time to drive to the library)
- State rating of the school system, and specific schools in the system
- Proximity to parks and other city or county amenities
and several other factors.
They crunch the numbers and based on analysis and factor weighting, the library system describes where to locate the new branch.
By the way, fast food companies do the same thing. McDonalds. for example, does GIS research and population density, and decide where to build. Other fast food companies don’t do their own GIS research; rather they look at where McDonalds is building and try to get land nearby. Basically piggybacking. That’s why fast food places are often clumped together.
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