I have managed to assemble some funding to acquire employer data for our 164-municipality transportation modeling region in Eastern MA, and I am wondering if any of you have comments on the accuracy and utility of the various proprietary employer data sources currently available.  I have been in conversations with two major providers (InfoGroup and Dun & Bradstreet) and have received sample files for certain zip codes, but it is hard to assess the accuracy or completeness of either sample. 

 

I’m wondering if anybody can offer insight on working with such data, and whether you have suggestions on choosing a vendor.  We will be using it primarily to determine employment by sector at very fine geographies (250m or 1km grid cells) for land use planning and analysis.  Some concerns we have already identified include: branch vs. headquarters employment, public sector employment, “paper companies” and verification, and the accuracy of the goecoded location that accompanies each record. 

 

Any thoughts are appreciated.  Feel free to reply off-list if concerned about publicly trumpeting or bashing somebody’s product. 

 

Thanks,

Tim Reardon

 

___________________________________________

Timothy G. Reardon -- Senior Regional Planner

Metropolitan Area Planning Council

60 Temple Place | Boston, MA 02111

617-451-2770 x2011

treardon@mapc.org

Say it with a map!  Find data and bring it alive at www.MetroBostonDataCommon.org!