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Retailers – here’s a website to help you to find free UK Open Data easily

In News109 Views

The purpose of Retail Research Data (RRD) website is to enable insight and store location analysts working in retail organisations in the UK to get easy access to free datasets which may be of value to their businesses. It is funded as part of the Economic and Social Research Council’s commitment to retail research.

RDDimage_delete
The website has links to 6 types of data:

  1. Small area geodemographic classifications – such as the preliminary 2011 Output Area Classification (OAC)
  2. Small area statistics – particularly from the 2011 Census, on many topics
  3. Lists of addresses, with postcodes, and places
  4. Postcode directories – for linking postcoded addresses (including customer records) to Output Areas and other geographical areas, or to grid references for mapping
  5. Map data – digital boundaries (such as Output Areas), and also background mapping
  6. Sample surveys – giving lots of detail about particular topics

RRD also includes a mapping facility to view the Classifications and Small Area Statistics for the United Kingdom and its constituent countries.

Here’s the link: http://www.retailresearchdata.com/

10% discount on the RLA training programme 2014 – last few places left

In News190 Views

28th Retail Location Analysis programme – Oxford, 28-30th April 2014

We are delighted to let you know that this year, all members of the SLA are entitled to a 10% discount off the 28th Retail Location Analysis programme in Oxford from 28-30 April 2014 and there are still some places left.

This training programme is unique with a deliberately small-scale approach to encourage debate and we now have limited availability remaining.

Don’t miss out on this excellent offer as places are going fast.

We believe that our three-day residential programme is the only one of its kind. Our tried and tested, deliberately small-scale approach, encourages discussion with speakers and individual learning through techniques workshops. I will be running the programme in tandem with Dr David Rogers from DSR Marketing Systems in the US. Between us, we have over 50 years of experience in site location issues. Other contributions are made by visiting practitioners and experts. And for the fourth year running, we are delighted that location planning experts from CACI are supporting the programme.

Up-to-date course information is available on our website, where you can also download the programme brochure.

You can apply for the programme online or you can email my colleague, Joanne Evans for an application form or more details at joanne.evans@sbs.ox.ac.uk.

If you have already been in touch or are already booked to attend please accept our apologies and we wish you a very Happy New Year for 2014.

Best wishes

Jonathan Reynolds
Academic Director, Oxford Institute of Retail Management
Sad Business School
University of Oxford

T +44 (0)1865 288924 | M +44 (0)7921 603664
www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/oxirm | blog | @oxondon

August 2013 SLA Newsletter

In News158 Views

Welcome to the August 2013 SLA Newsletter. We have had a very successful series of events so far this year in June and July so if you haven’t yet managed to attend there is still a packed programme to choose from:

  1. The Future of Convenience Retailing, Co-op Manchester, 3rd Sept 2013

    The Co-op will be hosting this event at their splendid new HQ at 1 Angel Square, M60 0AG. We have over 40 attending so far but there is still space if anyone still wishes to attend.
    This promises to be an excellent event; see https://thesla.org/2013/07/the-future-of-convenience-retailing-manchester-3rd-sep-2013/


  2. SLA Forum, CBRE Henrietta House, Friday 18th October (please note date change)

    We are still in the process of recruiting speakers; those confirmed to date are:

    • Bob Barr, Manchester Geomatics; Bob received rave reviews for his performance at the Royal Mail Pinpoint event last year. Bob will update us on Open Data, from his perspective on the ODUG committee.
    • Andy Hudson-Smith, CASA; Andy performed to great acclaim five years ago, when he regaled us with neogeography and second life; this time he’ll talk about Smart Cities.
    • Telefonica will update us on the progress of their ‘Smartsteps’ initiative, which they unveiled at last year’s Forum. This involves measuring footfall within catchments by presence of handsets in the vicinity.
  3. Public Sector Event, Birmingham City Council Offices, 12th November 2013

    An excellent programme has been put together for this event, entitled Service Delivery Planning for the Public Sector. The programme runs from 10.00 for 10.30, through to 3.00 close.
    For full programme, and to book, click https://thesla.org/2013/06/public-sector-event-12th-nov-2013/

  4. Jon Walker Award

    We need your help ! So far, we have very few nominations for the 2013 Jon Walker Award for Innovation in Location Analysis. Please think about people you know in the business who have done something innovative (could be software, data, project, model) in the last year. Details of how to nominate are https://thesla.org/jon-walker-award/


  5. Job advertising

    It’s the job advertising on our website which keeps the SLA running free of charge so a big thank you to those who have advertised with us. This year we’ve had 12 jobs advertised in total so far which is excellent and we know from regular feedback from clients and members that they work. If your company has a site location vacancy that needs filling get in touch. The price has remained unchanged now for some years and is a bargain at £495 for unlimited coverage, email to all members and inclusion on our LinkedIn page.

We are always interested in suggestions from SLA members – particularly for future possible topics or speakers. If you have anything to say, email us info@thesla.org
Best wishes,

Peter Sleight
Chairman

Property Research in the Real World: Practical Applications

In News181 Views

University of CambridgeThe Society of Property Researchers Committee and Fellows have put together a course focussed entirely on property research practical application which will be taking place on 28–29 November 2013.

As an SLA member you are entitled 25% off the standard course fee of £1,000 as an introductory launch offer, valid until 15 November 2013.

Madingley Hall Cambridge
Dates:
28–29 Nov 2013

Format:
2-day residential training programme

Venue:
Madingley Hall, Cambridge

Course fee:
£1,000 (for non-SPR members), £500 (for SPR members of 1 year or more),
25% off for SLA members.

Apply by:
15 November 2013

Introduction

Research plays a key role in businesses involved in the global property market. Effective property researchers provide advice and analysis that informs investment decisions, impacting on the bottom line. This short course will equip you with the skills you need to take your career in property research to the next level.

The course takes place at Madingley Hall, a Grade 1 listed building three miles west of Cambridge. Fees include all teaching, meals and one night’s accommodation.

What will I be studying?

The course is divided into three modules:

1. What is property research?

  • Introduction to property research
  • The nature and evolution of property research
  • Where property research is applied and for whom
  • Framing research questions in a property context
  • The research and investment process

2. Applied research methods

  • Key metrics and variables tracked by property researchers
  • Property data sources
  • Global differences in data and definitions
  • Identifying key trends and market drivers
  • Introduction to valuation methods

3. Property investment and strategy

  • The strategy and research process
  • Portfolio construction
  • Use of debt finance in property investment
  • Available property investment conduits and their property research considerations
  • Benchmarking property performance

At the end of the course, you will participate in a practical team exercise to create a portfolio strategy with the guidance of an industry team leader.

A certificate of attendance will be given to participants who complete the course.

Entry and attendance requirements

The course is suitable for anyone with property research and/or industry experience.
All teaching will be in English, so you must feel confident that you are able to follow lectures and classes and take part in discussions in English.

Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

The Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is the Institute of Continuing Education’s secure online resource space. You’ll be able to download reading materials and find links to relevant external resources as well as keeping in touch with your fellow delegates.

Discount for SLA members

An introductory discount fee of 25% available to applicants who are members of the SLA. Please contact Fiona Trott at ftrott@sprweb.com for more information.

Find out more…

For more information about this course visit www.ice.cam.ac.uk/property-research.

Teaching staff

Professor Colin Lizieri (Course Director)
Colin is Grosvenor Professor of Real Estate Finance at the Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge. He has published extensively in the fields of real estate finance and office market dynamics. He is a member of the Investment Property Forum research committee, and has acted as an expert adviser and consultant to the European Union, the UK and Norwegian governments, the Corporation of London, the City of Toronto and numerous private sector organisations.

Dr Robin Goodchild
Robin is Head of LaSalle’s European Research and Strategy Team of nine people who are responsible for the strategy for over €10 billion of property assets. His principal function is to identify opportunities in European property markets and to formulate strategies for investors to exploit those opportunities. He is also responsible for developing new ways to analyse markets and managing portfolios.

Dr Paul McNamara OBE
Paul worked for Prudential Property Investment Managers Ltd (later PRUPIM) between 1987 and 2012, becoming Head of Property Research in 1990. While there, he was responsible for the overall direction of property research and was also a Board Director for a number of years. Since retiring from PRUPIM, Paul has established a small consultancy, Linden Parkside, providing advice to organisations such as the Investment Property Forum.

Professor Andrew Baum
Andrew Baum is a part-time professor at the University of Reading. He has worked as an expert witness in areas related to real estate economics and finance. His teaching and research interests are focused on property funds and international real estate investment.

Society of Property Researchers logo

About the Society of Property Researchers

The Society of Property Researchers (SPR) is a professional association for practising property researchers. It was set up to promote the knowledge and understanding of real estate research. It has a membership of over 500 individuals working in a variety of organisations, from surveying firms to independent research companies and academic institutions. The SPR is run by a committee of 20 industry experts, and serves as a catalyst in promoting industry-wide debates. See www.sprweb.com for details.

About the Institute of Continuing Education

The Institute of Continuing Education (ICE) provides opportunities for adult learners to study at the University of Cambridge on a part-time basis. As an academic department of the University, ICE is committed to the highest standards of excellence. Its diverse range of professional courses and qualifications are developed with guidance from leading Cambridge academics in collaboration with specialist industry bodies.

ICE is the oldest continuing education department in the country, and celebrates its 140th anniversary in 2013. It is based at Madingley Hall, a 16th-century country house on the outskirts of Cambridge, with state-of-the-art teaching space and accommodation for more than 80 students.

March 2013 SLA newsletter

In News128 Views

Welcome to the Spring 2013 SLA Newsletter. We had a very successful series of events last year, and we’re in the process of organising this year’s events (see below). Please put the dates in your diary and we hope to see you at one or more event during the course of the year.

An invitation to members of the Society for Property Researchers (SPR)

We would like to invite members of the SPR to join the SLA, however we do have strict membership criteria and do not allow suppliers to join. Please see the terms and conditions of joining here. It’s free to join, only takes a minute to fill in the online subscription form and then you’ll have two chances of attending great site location and property events. With the success of last year’s joint SPR and SLA event, we wanted to welcome members to join us too. Click on the Join us on the home page side bar. We look forward to welcoming you along as new members.

Events 2013

  • Changing Grocery Store Formats, CBRE Henrietta House W1, 1st May 2013, 6.00 for 6.30 pm
    – Andy Thompson, Head of Network Planning & Property Insight at Sainsbury’s
    – Steve Jones of Unilever (formerly Tesco)
    – Third speaker to be confirmed
  • Public Sector event, Birmingham, 21st May 2013, (time TBC)
  • The impact of Crossrail on West End shopping, CBRE Henrietta House W1, 18th June 2013, 3.30 for 4.00 ’til 8.30 pm (jointly with SPR)
    – Speakers agreed to date: Tony Morgan, Chair, Crossrail
    – Richard Dickinson, New West End Co.
    – Giles Clarke, Grosvenor

    We’re seeking two more speakers; Jonathan Reynolds, OXIRM, will chair, and Stewart Colderick, CBRE, will moderate the Q&A session. Given the impact that Crossrail development will have on West End shopping, this is a very significant event.

  • The Future of Convenience Retailing, new Coop HQ, Manchester, 3rd September 2013, 6.00 for 6.30 pm

    – This event is at the planning stage currently, but is sure to be a winner; those who have attended previous Coop SLA events will know what to expect.

  • SLA Forum, CBRE Henrietta House, W1, 15th October 2013, 9.30 for 10.00; close at 4.30 pm
    – We are discussing ideas for this year’s theme – if you have ideas, we’d love to hear them. Email info@thesla.org

Please be sure to put the events which appear in your diary; more information will be emailed in due course. If you would like to reserve a place please email info@thesla.org

Jon Walker Award 2013

Blair Freebairn of GeoLytix won the Jon Walker Award in 2013 – see website (https://thesla.org/jon-walker-award/)

We have changed the format somewhat this year. Whereas we formerly asked SLA members to nominate innovations in the market, and the committee judged the best, this year we would like you to let us know on info@thesla.org of any innovations in location analysis, such as:

  • an innovative project
  • innovative use of data
  • an innovative modelling solution
  • innovative software development

Deadline for notification of innovations is 14th September 2013. We will put the entries on the SLA website, and ask SLA members to vote for the best. As usual, the result will be announced at the SLA Forum.

Supplier Listing on SLA website

We will be providing an additional service to members shortly, in terms of a listing of relevant data suppliers to the location analysis market. The suppliers will be grouped under specific headings, e.g. neighbourhood classifications. Just the name and website will appear. We are in the process of compiling lists currently.

Membership drive

We continue to grow membership, despite the inevitable attrition as people move abroad, leave the industry, etc. A good way to grow faster would be for everyone in the SLA to think about other people in the industry who they know (friends, colleagues); are they members of the SLA? should they be? Please encourage them to join. It’s easy! Forward this email to them and encourage then to visit the website (https://thesla.org), check eligibility criteria, if eligible, join online. Let’s grow the SLA even faster.

Pro bono support for small charities

Rosa de Balsi left Boots after 26 years in January. She has been an SLA member since its inception in 2002. She wrote to us, mentioning that on occasion the Location Planning team at Boots had given ‘free’ support to various small charities, usually based around shop siting.

Rosa suggested that the SLA might act as a ‘clearing house’ for such requests; so, if you receive this type of request but are unable to help (perhaps because of resource constraints) why not email the SLA about it (on info@thesla.org) and we’ll send an email around the membership, and/or put the request on the website.

If you have any comments, questions or feedback please do not hesitate to get in touch on info@thesla.org

Open Data views from our Chair Peter Sleight

In News169 Views

Those of you who were at the excellent SLA event on 11th September (‘The Locational Data Market’) will have seen Prof. Bob Barr perform; and once seen, never forgotten! Given Bob’s encyclopaedic knowledge of locational data, I think we can see his hand in The Case for an Open National Address Dataset (see Sarah Hitchcock’s blog – ‘The Open Data Group – an inside view’).

Like Sarah, Bob Barr is also a member of the ODUG team. They have put together a very persuasive case for making not only the Postcode Address File – PAF – but also Ordnance Survey’s AddressBase, Open Data. These two datasets together form the National Address Gazetteer (NAG). Since the government announced NAG back in December 2010, various bodies have been lobbying to make NAG Open Data; they include the MRS Census & Geodemographics Group (CGG), the Association of Census Distributors (ACD) and the Demographics User Group (DUG).

Those of you who attended the Open Data SLA event in Winchester on 21st February this year (organised by SLA members Mark Braggins, Mike Bovis, and Steve Scholey) will remember the keynote speaker, Prof. Nigel Shadbolt, speaking eloquently about the value of Open Data. Nigel and his colleague Tim Berners-Lee are the joint ‘drivers’ of data.gov.uk.

I took the opportunity to make the case for Open NAG at that event; in conversation afterwards, I commented to Nigel that I was surprised that it was proving so hard to make this happen, given that the government’s Transparency Board, of which he is a member, had argued for just that in their minutes of June 2011. He said (discreetly !) that some parts of government were keen to ‘keep the money’!

In my view, this ODUG initiative may provide the catalyst to make this very desirable thing happen – an Open NAG, free for all to use. If you’re interested, I would encourage you to read the ODUG papers – see Sarah’s blog. Her second reference (http://data.gov.uk/blog/odug-calls-on-the-government– etc. is actually Heather Savory’s blog where you can add your comments. Why don’t you add your voice? I have a feeling that this time, the tide for Open Data is flowing so strongly that it will be very difficult for the likes of Ordnance Survey and Royal Mail to resist its force.

Peter Sleight, chair, SLA

The Open Data User Group – an inside view!

In News166 Views

I admit that I’m relieved to be writing this blog after working with Open Data User Group (ODUG) members for 4 months, rather than within my first few weeks. Our first meeting on 10th July was held in trendy Tech City, Shoreditch. Already feeling too ‘corporate’ I sit down and pull out my notepad and pen – at that precise moment, my thirteen new colleagues open iPads, laptops and other ‘smart’ devices. Add ‘old school’ to the list of my insecurities.

As the meeting commences I realise I’ve never heard so many acronyms – it’s going to be a steep learning curve just following the conversation! It dawns on me that this is payback for being at Sainsbury’s for so long and understanding the language inside out. I’m going to have to learn the ways of the public sector – quickly!

Heather Savory, our ODUG chair is an impressive lady, and as an open data newbie she brings with her a fresh approach. Heather has a lot of experience and is chomping at the bit get things moving and to make a difference. It’s quickly apparent her strengths will be her objectivity and an ability to mesh our views together to ensure we drive results.

Having collaborated every few weeks over the past 4 months, I’ve got to know a great group of people in ODUG, and I’m really enjoying the experience. A key benefit of this group is that each participant brings experience and knowledge, between us we’ve worked across numerous different industries and sectors. Most importantly, we’ve worked with data, developed with it and have managed teams that purchase data and deliver results with it.

ODUG was set up to work with the Transparency Team in the HM Cabinet Office. We are here to represent the views of the user community and to clearly set out the arguments to release the datasets that have the potential to deliver broad benefits.

My initial concerns upon joining ODUG as the ‘large company representative’, was addressing the contentious ‘they’re big enough to pay for the data’ issue. But following our discussions, it’s clear that budget holders in large organisations are willing to pay for the value-add this data provides, and you don’t always want to spend the time doing this, providing opportunities for the smaller guys. Naturally budgets will always be tight, and some data costs may always be prohibitive – whatever the size of company.

As a relative newcomer to the world of open data, it also struck me how many different organisations are looking into the open data strategy. This is so encouraging, particularly when we all work together. We have many links through the ODUG members that will help with this:

  • Heather Savory advises the Data Strategy Board
  • Jenni Tennison is the Technical Director of the Open Data Institute
  • Mick Cory chairs the UK Location Group
  • Roger Taylor is a member Open Public Service Network at the RSA which works to make open data usable and relevant to the public

Personally, I’m staying close to the work that DUG (Demographic User Group) are doing, led by Keith Dugmore, the support the Duggers are providing is invaluable – thanks everyone!
So what progress have we made? In our first few months, we’ve made a promising start:

http://data.gov.uk/blog/odug-calls-on-the-government-to-deliver-an-open-national-address-dataset-under-the-open-government-l

Many of you have also discussed the issues of data formatting, the ability to link data sets together and the issues around not releasing national UK files. ODUG’s primary objective is to push for data release, but I’m more than happy to discuss any other concerns. Hopefully we will make a few other fixes along the way…

Data requests are shown on the Data.Gov website so take a look – you may find out about data that you didn’t know existed that would help you in your role. Please request data, even if it’s already requested – this growing interest in open data helps us collect more evidence to support our quest.

Oh – and my iPad is on order.

I’d love you to get in touch to discuss your views on open data – email me at sarah.hitchcock@odug.co.uk

ONS publication of Census 2011 Geography products

In News129 Views

ONS has just published the 2011 Census Geography products at http://www.ons.gov.uk/censusgeography.

These products, detailed in the 2011 Census Geography Prospectus, include boundaries of the modified output areas (OAs) and super output areas (SOAs). They have been made available ahead of the 2011 Census second release estimates, and can be used under Open Government Licence.

OAs and SOAs are the core statistical geography from which estimates for all higher geographies are produced, including all 2011 Census statistical releases, in line with the Geography Policy for National Statistics. They are therefore not only a key 2011 Census delivery, but also one that provides the geographical base that is used to inform policy, planning and resource allocation across the public and private sectors.

ONS Geography
National Statistics
Tel: 01329 444971
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons
For the latest data on the economy and society consult National Statistics at http://www.ons.gov.uk