GapMaps, the Melbourne-based cloud GIS and location intelligence platform, has signed a partnership with UK firm Panolytica to supply next-generation consumer segmentation data across Australia, the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia. The deal, announced on April 22, 2026, expands GapMaps’ Data Marketplace and targets retailers, franchisors and network-planning teams that need finer geographic detail for site selection and marketing.
Through the agreement, GapMaps customers will gain access to Panolytica’s segmentation model via the Data Marketplace and can integrate it into GIS, business intelligence and CRM systems. Integration into GapMaps Live is scheduled for later this year, allowing teams to overlay segmentation with demographics, visitation and points-of-interest data in a single environment.
Unlike many traditional segmentation products that rely on broader geographic units, Panolytica builds its datasets on 100 metre by 100 metre grids and generates between 30 and 50 consumer segments per country. The model is designed to reflect age, affluence, family status, buying behaviour and brand preferences — variables that increasingly drive retail site selection in dense urban catchments.
The partnership is particularly well-timed for franchise operators across Australia, the UK and Saudi Arabia, where consumer segmentation inside large urban catchments often determines whether a new unit hits its revenue forecast. Granular 100m grids make it easier to distinguish between neighbourhoods within the same postcode — something that matters enormously for QSR, fitness, coffee and specialty retail networks.
“This partnership with GapMaps marks a significant milestone for Panolytica.”
Founded in 2013, GapMaps says it works with more than 500 brands across Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and North America. Its customer base spans retailers, service networks and property teams that use location intelligence for expansion planning, market analysis and local decision-making. The Panolytica tie-up is the latest in a series of moves that have pushed GapMaps towards a broader Data-as-a-Service model, layering demographics, visitation data and POI information on top of each other so planners no longer have to stitch together multiple vendor feeds.
Panolytica was founded by Martin Taylor and Chief Data Officer Alex Hill, both previously involved in large-scale segmentation products such as Mosaic and Worldview at Experian. GapMaps’ Data-as-a-Service business is led by Head of DaaS Rob Villanti, who said the extra segmentation layer will sit alongside GapMaps’ existing datasets for direct data-service customers.
For franchise investors and master franchise buyers looking at Asia and MENA, this partnership is a useful signal on two fronts. First, the explicit coverage of Saudi Arabia alongside Australia and the UK reflects how rapidly the GCC is being pulled into the same location-intelligence stack used by Tier 1 Western retailers — a meaningful upgrade for franchisors planning multi-unit or master franchise rollouts in Riyadh, Jeddah and the Eastern Province. Second, the shift toward grid-level consumer data is exactly what boutique fitness, casual dining and specialty retail franchise networks need in order to justify unit-level pro formas to investors and lenders in markets where white space is still abundant but intra-city demographics vary widely.
Source: ChannelLife Australia — GapMaps partners with Panolytica on segmentation data
