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Location-intelligence specialist GapMaps has struck a global partnership with UK data firm Panolytica to deliver advanced consumer-segmentation data across Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Australia, with further launches planned across Southeast Asia and the United Arab Emirates later this year. Announced in April 2026, the deal hands retailers, restaurant operators and property teams a sharper lens for site selection and marketing in some of the world’s fastest-growing franchise markets.
The agreement gives GapMaps customers access to Panolytica’s segmentation model through the GapMaps Data Marketplace, usable by marketing, analytics and network-planning teams and integrable into GIS, business-intelligence and CRM systems. The data is available immediately to GapMaps’ Data-as-a-Service customers and will be visualized inside GapMaps Live later this year, alongside demographics, visitation and points-of-interest layers in a single environment.
The tie-up reflects rising demand for hyper-local data when operators choose locations or plan campaigns. Finer geographic detail lets businesses compare neighborhoods, gauge local demand and spot customer differences within a single catchment – the kind of precision that increasingly separates winning sites from costly misses. For multi-unit operators deciding between different store formats by location type, that resolution can reshape an entire expansion map.
“We’re thrilled to collaborate with Panolytica to provide market-leading segmentation.” — Rob Villanti, Head of DaaS, GapMaps
Founded in 2013, GapMaps says it works with more than 500 brands across Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and North America. Panolytica was founded by Martin Taylor and chief data officer Alex Hill, both formerly of Experian, where they worked on segmentation platforms including Mosaic and Worldview – pedigree that matters in a competitive niche long dominated by legacy classification products.
The phased rollout into Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Southeast Asia tracks exactly where international franchise capital is flowing. As brands race into Gulf and ASEAN markets, granular catchment data helps de-risk the site-selection decisions that make or break a master-franchise rollout – a discipline equally visible in measured format strategy debates across Asia and in operators’ location-led expansion.
For investors evaluating territories across Asia and MENA, the deal underscores a structural shift: expansion is becoming data-led rather than instinct-led. Markets like KSA and the UAE have historically lacked the granular consumer datasets long available in mature Western markets, and closing that gap allows franchisees to model demand block by block before signing leases. The broader takeaway is that location intelligence is now a core diligence tool – the operators who pair brand strength with precise catchment analytics will allocate capital more efficiently than those still relying on broad demographics.
