Geopath Panel Characteristics

The device panel defined and put into use on a weekly basis (Monday - Sunday). Looking back over the last two years, we can examine any characteristics of the panel and how is has changed as providers have been added and removed and as operating system features have been added and changed.

The sampling rate of the panel devices is tracked and analyzed on various geographic, demographic, and hardware dimensions. This allows us to identify issues and inconsistencies in the feeds, update the methodologies as technologies change, and evaluate new data sources and their impact on the panel.

We currently track the following panel characteristics and monitor them on a weekly basis as we curate the panel to continuously maintain the most robust device data possible.

Panel by Provider and Operating System

The complete panel of devices is comprised of location data from a set of providers that collect data through a network of partner applications focused on providing a solid value exchange for the end user sharing their location. These applications cross operating systems and mobile service providers. thi figure below panel devices to different categories allows us to readily assess the immediate impact of of any disruptions from the providers or the operating system side. The Figure below shows the breakdown of panel devices by provider and operating system during the week of August 9, 2020. The fairly even split of Apple’s IOS vs Google’s Android is reflective of the nearly equal market penetration in the US over the last year.

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Sampling by State

The aggregate sampling rates by state provides an idea of coverage nationally, and highlights the key outliers with D.C. (many government devices automatically opted out) and California with additional privacy legislation as outliers to the rest of the country.

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Sampling by County

The sampling rate by county gives us a better idea on geographically bias in the panel. While the sampling rate for the majority of the US counties averages around 5% consistently through time, we can start to dig into areas where the sampling rate drops below 2% (less than 4% of counties). The figure below shows the sampling rate on a county level as well as the sub-panel by operating system.

Sampling by Block Group

At the most detailed level, the sampling rate for every individual “neighborhood” is considered at the Census Block Group. A Block Group is a neighborhood scale geography targeting homogeneous populations of ~400 households or ~1,000 persons. In no case, can a Block Group have more that 3,000 persons or less than 600 persons unless it is unpopulated like lakes or undeveloped areas. In all cases the sampling rates described drop unpopulated areas from the comparisons. This provides the most conservative comparison as there is sampling in areas with new developments that were once unpopulated areas.

The graphs below documents the sampling rate as compared to the percentage of all Block Groups sampled at at least that sampling rate. Given the targeted population of 1,000 persons, this graph is also documenting the percent of the population sampled by the associated minimum sampling rate. The call out states that 81.8% of Block Groups are sampled at at a minimum of a 2% sampling rate. The same statement can be made that 81.8% of the U.S. Population is being sampled at more than a 2% sampling rate.

Sampling Age Groups – PRIZM Lifestage Groups

The a panel device, to protect privacy, is never identified individually and in fact when considering a “home location” is never tagged to anything more specific than a Census Block Group (neighborhood of ~1,000 persons or 400 households). In this way, we associate the demographics of the device with the demographics of the neighborhood where we understand the full population of households. We use the Geopath Claritas POPFACTS Demographics and PRIZM Premier Segments household segments to look at PRIZM Lifestage Groups that focus on age, income, and the presence of children in the households.

In the figure below, the panel size versus the population is overlaid. In this way, the visual comparison can be easily made identifying which Lifestage Groups are being over and under sampled. The sample rate by Lifestage Group is also reported.

Younger Years

Segments in Younger Years consist of mostly singles and couples who are typically under 45 years old and generally have no children in the household. Residents may feel they are too young to have children and/or are approaching middle age and choose not to have them. At the household level, around age 45 is the cutoff for most segments. Among these younger segments, only those explicit in their definition for lack of children or with low indices for presence of children tend to be included in Younger Years. 

• Striving Singles make up the most downscale of the Younger Years class. Found in both cities and rural settings, these households typically have low incomes, often under $30,000 a year, from service jobs or part-time work they take on while going to college. As consumers, the residents in these segments score high for outdoor sports, movies and music, fast food, and inexpensive cars.

• Young Achievers is a Lifestage group made up of a lower midscale segments found in urban and metro neighborhoods. A blend of family types, Young Achievers are also a mix of homeowners and renters. They are above average in their use of technology, often researching their upcoming purchases online.

• Midlife Success typically are filled with childless singles and couples in their thirties and forties. The wealthiest of the Younger Years class, this group is home to many college-educated residents who make six-figure incomes at executive and professional jobs but also extends to more middle class segments. Most of these segments are found in urban and suburban communities, and consumers here are big fans of the latest technology, financial products, aerobic exercise, and travel.

Family Life

Family Life is composed of segments that are middle-aged and either defined by presence of children in the household or have high indices for households with children under age 18. They may be married couples or single parents. At the household level, presence of children is the primary driver for many segments in this class. While this class also includes segments where the presence of children is not explicit at the household level, in general they do show high indices for that characteristic. 

• Sustaining Families is the least affluent of the Family Life groups, an assortment of segments that range from working-class to decidedly downscale. These segments are primarily found in urban neighborhoods. Most adults hold blue-collar and service jobs, earning wages that relegate their families to small, older apartments or houses. And their lifestyles are similarly modest: households here are into playing games and sports, shopping at discount chains and convenience stores, and tuning into nearly everything that airs on TV and radio.

• Mainstream Families refers to a collection of five segments of middle class and working-class families. Residents in this exurban group share similar consumption patterns, living in modestly priced homes and ranking high for outdoor activities. Mainstream Families maintain lifestyles befitting large families in the nation's small towns: lots of sports, electronic toys, groceries in bulk, and televised media.

• Young Accumulators are slightly younger and less affluent than their upscale peers. Adults typically have college educations and work a mix of white-collar managerial and professional jobs. Found mostly in suburban and exurban areas, the large families in Young Accumulators have fashioned comfortable, upscale lifestyles in their mid-sized homes. They favor outdoor sports, kid-friendly technology and adult toys like campers, powerboats, and motorcycles. Their media tastes lean towards cable networks targeted to children and teenagers.

• Accumulated Wealth contain the wealthiest families, mostly college-educated, white-collar Baby Boomers living in sprawling homes beyond the nation's beltways. These large family segments are filled with upscale professionals who have the disposable cash and sophisticated tastes to indulge their children with electronic toys, computer games, and top-of-the-line sporting equipment. The adults in these households are also a prime audience for print media, expensive cars and frequent vacations, often to theme parks as well as European destinations.

Mature Years

Mature Years includes segments whose residents are primarily empty-nesters or those with children in their late teens, away at college or rebounding back to mom and dad’s home. At the household level, the primary driver is age, not necessarily the absence of children. Segments that are uniquely child-centered tend to be younger and are grouped under Family Years while those under age 45 and without children are grouped in Younger Years, leaving the last group of segments for the Mature Years.

• Sustaining Seniors consists of four segments filled with older, economically challenged Americans. Primarily found in small towns and rural areas, they all score high for having residents who are over 65 years old and who have household incomes under $40,000. Many are single or widowed, have modest educational achievement, and live in older apartments or small homes. On their fixed incomes, they lead low-key, home-centered lifestyles. They're big on watching TV, gardening, sewing, and woodworking. Their social life often revolves around activities at veterans clubs and fraternal organizations.

• Cautious Couples feature over-55-year-old mix of singles, couples, and widows. Widely scattered throughout the nation, the residents in these seven segments typically are working-class, with some college education and a high rate of homeownership. Given their blue-collar roots, Cautious Couples today pursue sedate lifestyles. They have high rates for reading, travel, eating out at family restaurants, and pursuing home-based hobbies like coin collecting and gardening.

• Conservative Classics offer a portrait of quiet comfort: College educated, over 55 years old and upper-middle class. These childless singles and couples live in older suburban homes. For leisure at home, they enjoy gardening, reading books, watching public television, and entertaining neighbors over barbecues. When they go out, it's often to a local museum, the theater, or a casual-dining restaurant.

• Affluent Empty Nests feature upscale couples who are college educated and hold executive and professional positions. Americans in the Mature Years tend to be over 45 years old and living in houses that have empty-nested. While their neighborhoods are found across a variety of landscapes, they are most common in suburban neighborhoods with large, older homes. With their children out of the house, these consumers have plenty of disposable cash to finance active lifestyles rich in travel, cultural events, exercise equipment, and business media. These folks are also community activists who write politicians, volunteer for environmental groups, and vote regularly in elections. 

Sampling Income Groups and Area Types – PRIZM Social Groups and Urbanicity

The a panel device, to protect privacy, is never identified individually and in fact when considering a “home location” is never tagged to anything more specific than a Census Block Group (neighborhood of ~1,000 persons or 400 households). In this way, we associate the demographics of the device with the demographics of the neighborhood where we understand the full population of households. We use the Geopath Claritas POPFACTS Demographics and PRIZM Premier Segments household segments to look at PRIZM Social Groups that focus on the affluence (socioeconomic rank) of the households and area type where they live (urbanicity).

In the figure below, the panel size versus the population is overlaid. In this way, the visual comparison can be easily made identifying which Social Groups are being over and under sampled. The sample rate by Social Group is also reported.

Town & Rural

Town & Rural Social Groups have population density centiles under 40. This Social Group includes exurbs, towns, farming communities and a wide range of other rural areas. The town aspect of this class covers the thousands of small towns and villages scattered among the rural heartland, as well as the low-density areas far beyond the outer beltways and suburban rings of America’s major metros. Households in these exurban segments live among higher densities and are more affluent than their rural neighbors.

• Rustic Livings represent the nation's most isolated towns and rural villages. As a group, T4 residents have relatively modest incomes, aging homes, and blue-collar occupations. Many of the residents, a mix of young singles and seniors, are unmarried, and they've watched scores of their neighbors migrate to the city. In their remote communities, these consumers spend their leisure time in such traditional small-town activities as fishing and hunting, attending social activities at the local church and veterans club, and enjoying country music and car racing.

• Middle America are filled with middle class to lower-middle class homeowners living in small towns and remote exurbs. Typically found in scenic settings throughout the nation's heartland, Middle Americans are a mix of couples and families. Like many residents of remote communities, these conservative consumers tend to prefer traditional rural pursuits: fishing, hunting, making crafts, antique collecting, watching television, and meeting at civic and veterans clubs for recreation and companionship. Friday nights are for celebrating high school sports.

• Country Comfort are filled with predominantly upper-middle class homeowners. In their placid towns and scenic bedroom communities, these Americans tend to be married, with or without children. They enjoy comfortable upscale lifestyles, exhibiting high indices for outdoor activities like gardening, barbecuing and playing golf, as well as home-based activities such as woodworking and crafts. Reflecting their rural, family environment, they prefer trucks, SUVs, and minivans to cars.

• Landed Gentry social group consist of wealthy Americans, widely scattered throughout the nation, who migrated to smaller towns beyond the nation's beltways. Many of the households contain Boomer families and couples with college degrees, expansive homes, and professional jobs. With their upscale incomes, they can afford to spend heavily on consumer electronics, wireless and computer technology, luxury cars, powerboats, books and magazines, children's toys, and exercise equipment.

Second Cities

Second Cities are less densely populated than urban areas with population density centiles typically between 40 and 85. While similar to suburban population densities, Second Cities are the population center of their surrounding community. As such, many are concentrated within America’s smaller cities and larger towns. This class also includes satellite cities or higher density suburbs encircling major metropolitan centers, typically with far greater affluence than their small city cousins.

• Micro-City Mix was created via the predominantly downscale residents living in the affordable housing found throughout the nation's smaller cities. A diverse social group, these five segments contain a mix of old and young families, with and without kids. Many of the workers hold blue-collar jobs and their marketplace behaviors reflect the segments' varied lifestyles. 

• City Centers social group consist of a mix of Americans, old and young, homeowners and renters, families and singles, who've settled in the nation's satellite cities. What they share is a middle class status, educations that include at least some college, and a lifestyle heavy on leisure and recreation. The members of City Centers tend to be big fans of home-centered activities: Internet surfing, video renting, TV viewing, and playing games and musical instruments. Outside their homes, they go to movies, museums, and bowling alleys at high rates.

• Second City Society stands at the top of the heap as a social group consisting of the wealthiest families who live outside the nation's metropolitan core. The three segments in this group are dominated by homeowners with executive jobs and large homes. In the marketplace, they spend big on digital and wireless technology, business and cultural media, casual-dining restaurants, upscale retailers, foreign travel, and luxury cars.

Suburban

Suburban areas have population density centiles between 40 and 90 and are clearly dependent on urban areas or second cities. Unlike Second Cities, they are not the population center of their surrounding community, but rather a continuation of the density decline as you move out from the city center. While some Suburbs may be employment centers, their lifestyles and commuting patters will be more tied to Urban or Second City cores.

• Inner Suburbs social group are concentrated in the inner-ring suburbs of major metro areas where residents tend to be high school educated, unmarried, and downscale. There's diversity in this group, with segments divided evenly between homeowners and renters, and filled with households that are either young or aging in place. The behaviors of the S4 segments vary as well, from younger, more tech savvy segments to more mature segments that are slower to adopt new technology.

• Middleburbs share a middle class, suburban perspective, but the similarity ends there. The group includes a mix of ages and interests. Mostly homeowners, the presence of children varies across the segments. The members of Middleburbs tend to have plenty of discretionary income to visit nightclubs and casual-dining restaurants, shop at midscale department stores, and travel often.

• The Affluentials are one socioeconomic rung down from the Elite Suburbs, with a significant drop in median income; but, their residents still enjoy comfortable, suburban lifestyles. The median income and IPA in S2 are well above the U.S. median values, and the members of this social group are a mix of families, couples and singles who tend to have college degrees and white-collar jobs. As consumers, The Affluentials are big fans of health foods, computer equipment, consumer electronics, and the full range of big-box retailers.

• Elite Suburbs is a world of six-figure incomes, post-graduate degrees, single-family homes, and managerial and professional occupations. Befitting their lofty salaries, S1 members are big consumers of large homes, expensive clothes, luxury cars, and foreign travel. Despite representing a small portion of the U.S. population, they hold a large share of the nation's personal net worth.

Urban

Urban Social Groups have population density centiles mostly between 85 and 99. They include both the downtown areas of major cities and surrounding neighborhoods. Households in this classification live within the classic high-density neighborhoods found in the heart of America’s largest cities. While almost always anchored by the downtown central business district, these areas often extend beyond the city limits and into surrounding jurisdictions to encompass most of America’s earliest suburban expansions.

• Urban Cores are characterized by relatively modest incomes, education, and rental apartments; however, affordable housing is part of the allure for the group's young singles and aging retirees. Urban Cores is one of the least affluent social groups, and surveys indicate a fondness for both ethnic and mainstream media and products.

• Midtown Mixes are a diverse group of mostly younger, midscale urban renters. It's the most tech savvy of the urban social groups and consists of a mix of singles and couples. In Midtown Mix, the households are dominated by consumers who pursue active social lives - frequenting bars, health clubs, and restaurants at high rates, listening to progressive music, driving small imports, and acquiring the latest consumer electronics.

• Urban Uptowns are home to the nation's wealthiest urban consumers. Members of this social group tend to be upscale to wealthy, mostly without kids. Although this group is diverse in terms of housing styles, residents share an upscale urban perspective that's reflected in their shopping behaviors and activities. Urban Uptown consumers tend to frequent the arts, shop at exclusive retailers, drive luxury imports, travel abroad, and spend heavily on computer and wireless technology. 

Sampling Density

One other important factor to consider along with the sampling percentage is the population and device density measured in people and devices per square mile. As shown in the previous section, it is often the case that the lowest sampling rates are found in urban areas that have a small in size with larger populations. This allows the measurement of population activity in the area through a concentration of devices in an area.

The figure below demonstrates that the density of sampled devices per square mile (green line) is highest when the sampling rate is below 2.5%. The bars on the graph show the number of Block Groups sampled at the associated rate, colored to highlight the proportion of the blockgroups in California and New York versus all the other areas. While we know as a percentage the sampling rate in certain block groups are low, the number of sampled devices are high enough to still allow the population activity to be understood with confidence. The extreme small sample rate spike on the graph documents blockgroups comprised of institutional populations (prisons) and other edge cases.