🪄Methodology

How do we compute each of these pillars?

Volume Grade

What is it?

Our volume grade considers the extent of coverage across various countries and regions, ensuring that our offerings aren't confined to particular areas.

The key elements we consider when calculating our volume score include the quantity of POIs, the count of unique brands, and the quantity of branded POIs.

The volume grade serves as a KPI crafted to compare our offerings across various countries. To facilitate this comparison, we needed to create a standardized method for evaluating the values.

How do we compute it?

Let's begin with an illustrative example.

Country Code	Population	POI Count	Branded POI Count
BE	11,921,271	707,791	56,691
US	342,267,302	15,738,553	1,576,535

IMPORTANT: The POI count DOES NOT represent all the POIs available within a country, at Echo we focus solely on the commercial POIs.

When we examine countries like the United States (US) and Belgium (BE), it becomes apparent that the United States has a population roughly 29 times larger than Belgium’s. Therefore, a straightforward comparison based on the raw number of POIs would result in an inaccurate assessment.

The volume score is attained by computing the scores for the POI, branded POI and brand offering for each country. In order to allow for comparison, we adjusted the POIs, branded POIs and the Brands by the population. This allows us to account for crowded and highly populated areas.

NOTE: The Volume Grade is computed using the pillars of POI, Branded POI and Brand Offering.

Furthermore, by continuously expanding and enriching our dataset, ensuring its accuracy, and providing global coverage, we assess the strength of our offering in terms of the sheer volume of valuable data we provide. This, in turn, allows us to confidently serve the needs of our clients in various industries and markets.

Brand Accuracy Grade

What is it?

The brand accuracy grade is the evaluation of the brands with a coverage within 80% - 120%. The brands used for this evaluation are attained from top brands. This list of brands is composed of 2 parts:

• Global brand list: this is a list built from multiple sources (customer, historical data) not necessary consistent with our brand development strategy yet valuable from a customer standpoint. (any brand with an MRV, not part of the country specific brand list)

• Country-specific brand list: this is an industry-specific brand list oriented built to meet country-level specificities.

This approach enables us to effectively evaluate the coverage performance for these highly influential brands.

How do we compute it?

We compute a score for each of the above list and we combine both score to provide the Brand Accuracy grade.

• For each brand, we calculate the coverage rate by comparing the actual number of POIs available within our dataset to the expected number of POIs identified through comprehensive market research.

This analysis empowers us to evaluate the extent of coverage, pinpoint any potential coverage gaps, and make well-informed decisions based on the assigned coverage grades.

Completeness Grade

What is it?

The completeness grade focuses on assessing the completeness of attributes that assist in identifying and defining a POI. We classify a POI as "complete" only when it possesses all the core attributes, which encompass the website, opening hours, phone number, postal code, and administrative boundary. These attributes collectively constitute the core identity of a POI.

How do we compute it?

So, how do we determine a completeness grade? We use algorithms to compute the status of each individual POI within a country, allowing us to attain a completeness % for the entire country. Therefore, if we have a completeness rate of 50% in the United States, it indicates that 50% of all the POIs available within the country have all the core attributes filled in.

By establishing a clearly defined set of core attributes, we can pinpoint areas that require improvement and ensure a more robust evaluation of POIs.

It's important to recognize that not every POI will possess all these attributes. The assessment of completeness applies to all POIs within the country; however since not all POIs are commercial POIs, the completion rate for attributes like website, contact number, and business hours might be lower. Hence we have adapted our Completeness Thresholds to reflect this.

Freshness Score

What is it?

The Freshness Score for our POI data is a strategic element aiming at enhancing the quality and reliability of the information we provide. By regularly assessing the freshness of our POIs, we can ensure that our data remains up-to-date, relevant, and valuable to our customers.

This score helps us balancing the cost and timing our data refresh. Regularly updating our data involves costs, and our goal is to strike the right balance between maintaining up-to-date information and managing those expenses efficiently.

How do we compute it?

For each POI, we assess when it was created and last updated, comparing these dates to the present. This enables us to calculate a freshness score at the POI level, which we then aggregate to provide insights at the country level.

Country Score

The country score provides comprehensive insights into the confidence in the offering and quality of the data that is offered within the country.

The score is computed by combining the Volume, Brand Accuracy, Completeness and Freshness Grades. Given the varying significance of each of these grading criteria, we have thoughtfully incorporated a weightage system that meticulously computes and allocates weights according to their respective levels of importance.

Within our assessment framework, countries are assigned one of five potential ratings. Ratings of A+, A, and B indicate a strong confidence level in both the data quality and the available offerings within the respective country. A Grade of C indicates countries with some room for improvement but still deemed acceptable. Grade D is assigned to countries considered a work in progress.