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Mar 18, 2025
How we changed the game in the data update

The race for precision

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In mid-2023, other Geomarketing platforms vied for a symbolic title: Who would be the “first” to update their databases with information from the 2022 Census.

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Apparently, that seemed like a decisive advantage. Leaving the impression that the company that came out ahead would have the privilege of saying to the market:

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‍Look, we were the first!

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But, as in the fable of the hare and the turtle, speed doesn't always mean victory.

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This is because in data science and especially in Demography, haste is the enemy of precision.

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At that time, the 2022 Census data were still in its infancy. The IBGE had released only municipal information and I warned that they could still be adjusted.

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But that didn't stop some companies from launching marketing campaigns stating that they already had the Complete 2022 Census on their platforms.

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Mapfry, on the other hand, did something that seemed unpopular, but which, in the end, proved to be the best strategy: it waited, analyzed, tested, and refined its methodology before offering the market a truly reliable update.

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It wasn't a passive wait, but a painstaking work of data engineering and statistics.

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And now, as the contestants try to deal with the inconsistencies of their hasty promises, we're proud to present a solid, accurate, and uncontested geo-demographic base.

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What does it mean to be really up to date?

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Imagine that you receive a blurry photograph of a person.

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Your challenge is to try to locate that person.

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You would need to fill in the details, enrich the image to understand what your appearance might look like now.

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In the case of census data, something similar occurs.

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The first release of the 2022 Census showed only general population and household numbers by municipality, a useful overview, but insufficient for in-depth analysis.

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To transform this panorama into a granular vision, such as neighborhoods, streets, blocks, a sophisticated process is necessary.

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It turns out that many competitors opted for linear inference: a simplistic method, almost a Rule of Three, where it is assumed that everything grew or decreased proportionately.

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All that was needed was to combine with reality, which is never so simple.

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Mapfry, instead, applied an advanced model that respects population dynamics, considering factors such as migration, birth, mortality, and urban transformations.

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We use consolidated techniques, such as areas that are minimally comparable in time, ensuring that the 2010 Census projections reflected the changes that occurred between the two censuses.

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Passers speak badly 🤬

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Realizing that we were left out of the euphoria of the early update, there was a competitor who made a post insinuating that the Mapfry base was “out of date”.

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This made it clear that they really believed they were making the right move, something even more worrying than the “marketing ploy” we imagined.

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What they didn't count on was the boomerang effect of the precipitation.

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Now, with the methodological errors of those in a hurry coming to light, the market realizes who actually worked to deliver reliable information.

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Mapfry's projections were built on unquestionable technical rigor, with a highly qualified team, including Demography specialists with solid academic training.

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And unlike those who just told that was up to date, Mapfry proved this with data that resists the scrutiny of its base of nearly 10 thousand users.

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The Reliability Trophy 🏆

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In the end, this race wasn't about who came first, but about who arrived better.

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The 2022 Census comes to change the game, but only for those who can interpret it correctly.

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We knew how to wait for the right moment, refining our methodology and now we have delivered the most reliable database to the market.

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If you want quality, you already know where to find it.

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Access

app.mapfry.com