Following MRS Census and GeoDems Group’s successful and popular online webinar in February 2022, The Future of the Census ( available in the webinar library), we are delighted to bring to you our next instalment, The Future of GeoDems.

This will again be an online event and will feature speakers including Prof Paul Longley, Corrine Moy, Martin Squires and Dr Peter Furness, discussing topics ranging across the future of GeoDem classifications, GeoDems applications in market research, retail and/or direct marketing and GeoDems from mobile to the metaverse.

This webinar will be chaired by Brian Tarran, Head of Data Science Platform at the Royal Statistical Society

Future of GeoDem Classifications (Output Area Classification)
Professor Paul Longley and Jakub (Kuba) Wyszomierski
This presentation will argue that the uniqueness of place is fundamental to understanding population geodemographics. It will set out ways to measure place effects using consumer data and historical census records. We georeference individuals’ family names from 19th century censuses and contemporary consumer registers, and then use them to trace the unique complexions of local communities. At a conceptual level, this offers the prospect of geodemographic classifications that are at the same time generalised and place-specific. At a practical level, this also contributes to the creation and updating of output area classifications (OACs) from recent UK censuses.

GeoDems - Applications in market research
Corrine Moy
Census data is the foundation of most of our quantitative research. It provides critical support for the sampling and weighting of most surveys. It also informs our understanding of the impact of demographic and geographic factors on consumers behaviours and attitudes. And further, we can augment survey data with small area demographics to enhance analysis of our target audiences

GeoDems - Applications in retail and/or direct marketing
Martin Squires
In a changing world where people are shifting where they live, where and how they work and how they interact the importance of geography is coming back to the forefront. The role of the census within that remains as key as ever, even if sometimes providing the unseen bedrock behind other data sets. Retail in particular is a sector which continues to make use of this amazing asset.

GeoDems - From mobile to the metaverse 
Peter Furness
The CGG has been closely following developments in the world of spatial analytics including those enabled by the positioning capabilities of mobile devices as well as other tracking and surveillance technologies. These include telematics, fitness (the ‘quantified self’) and augmented reality – as well as virtual worlds and the ‘metaverse’.

So far these have largely been disconnected and proprietary developments. With new services such as autonomous vehicles, the Internet of Things, location-enabled social media and geographically linked open data, it is clear that some form of internet-enabled infrastructure is needed to allow these capabilities to interconnect and be fully integrated when needed.

Peter's presentation will review the current state of play and consider what role the ‘metaverse’ might play. It will also highlight some of the major challenges including those of privacy and data protection.

Brian Tarran is a writer and editor with 20 years’ experience covering the research and data space. He is now head of data science platform at the Royal Statistical Society, following eight years as editor of Significance Magazine (a joint publication of the Royal Statistical Society, the American Statistical Association and the Statistical Society of Australia). He is also a former editor of Research-Live.com and was launch editor of Impact magazine, both published by the Market Research Society.

Peter is a mathematician who has been closely involved with the development and application of new analytical techniques in marketing and customer value management. His work in GeoDems spans several decades and he is passionate about the exciting new data and analytical opportunities opening up in the mobile world. Peter has been a member of the CGG since 1993 and was instrumental in setting up the GeoDems Knowledge Base in 2000.

Paul Longley is Professor of Geographic Information Science at University College London, where he directs the Economic and Social Research Council Consumer Data Research Centre. He has worked extensively on geodemographics over the years.

Corrine is an experienced Marketing Science leader, having roles at global VP level for a major Research/Insight agency. She has spent the last 30 years providing statistical advice and consultancy within the market research industry, being involved in the design and analysis of countless major research programs. A Chartered Statistician and Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and a Fellow of the MRS, she lectures widely on statistics for various organisations, including the MRS. She is joint editor and author of the 2001 MRS Guide to the Census and was one of the founding members of the Census Interest Group of the MRS.
In addition, she acts as a media spokesperson for the MRS and has made a number of broadcast appearances for the BBC. A regular presenter at Market Research conferences and a three-time winner of the MRS annual award for best technical paper. She sits on the Editorial Board of the IJMR and is a Trustee of the Marketing Sciences Institute. She has also published a number of papers in industry journals, including the IJMR. Her main research interests are sampling methodology and the application of advanced analytics to solve business problems.


Now a Senior Solutions Consultant at Merkle, Martin has extensive experience leading data science, insight and analysis teams at Pets at Home, HomeServe, Walgreens Boots Alliance, M&S Bank and Bradford & Bingley (now part of Santander) as well as running his own consultancy. He is passionate about how data and analysis can add value, both to the companies that deploy it well and most importantly for their customers.

Jakub Wyszomierski is a 3rd-year PhD student at the Department of Geography at Univiersity College London. His PhD focuses on the development of 2021/2 Output Area Classification and individual-level geodemographics.


Additional Information

Get the latest MRS news

Our newsletters cover the latest MRS events, policy updates and research news.