Projections Dataset and Methodology

indicating an employment size range for these firms (e.g. 1-4, 5-9, 10-19, etc) and estimated sales volume. GWRC
staff used the EMPSIZE code, combined with the NAICS code and SALES_VOL code to compare the businesses
missing the number of employees with comparable businesses (by NAICS, EMPSIZE and SALES_VOL) with reported
employment. Missing data for “NUMBER_EMP” was replaced with the average number of employees reported for
comparably sized firms with common NAICS, EMPSIZE and SALES_VOL values in PD16. For establishments lacking
any “comparables” in the region, the average for such establishments statewide was used as a surrogate value.
Additionally, for some records, the establishment listing on www.manta.com oftentimes provided an “EMPSIZE”
estimate that could be used, along with the firm’s NAICS code and SALES_VOL estimate to provide a reasonable
employment estimate for the establishment.
Identification and Deletion of Duplicate Records
Establishment listings were sorted by address, phone (obtained from www.manta.com listings or local phone book),
NAICS code, business name, etc to find occurrences of duplicate establishment records that shared a common NAICS
code and address (and perhaps business name). In such instances, the record with the smaller employment
estimate or no estimate at all was deleted from the database.
Geocoding Corrections
The accuracy of the business address location and the associated lat/lon map coordinates for that location are
critical to the accurate coding of the businesses to the proper traffic analysis zone (TAZ). The ESRI/InfoUSA record
had an important “MATCH_CODE” field that identified whether the supplied map coordinates were based on the
street address or some approximation thereof (e.g. zipcode centroid). Moreover, some records had either local
delivery addresses with map coordinates that located the establishment outside the PD 16 area or “PO Box”
addresses representing locations off-site from the physical establishment street address.
The locational accuracy issues were addressed as follows:
‣ PO Boxes: Businesses with PO Box addresses were researched in local
telephone book and through the www.Manta.com website and local street addresses, when found, where
substituted for the PO Box address. These records were tagged for later geo-coding update to correct the lat/lon
map coordinates for their location. If no street addresses could be located for the PO Box address, the business
location was randomly assigned within the 5-digit zip code area. While only applied to a relatively few number of
records, all of these businesses were smaller establishments with fewer than 5 employees.
‣ Off-Site “MATCH_CODE” values: Business establishment records with
“match_code” values indicating something other than the exact street address being used for the location
coordinates were selected, tagged and researched to find a local street address for as many records as possible.
Once updated addresses were determined for these records, they were tagged for later geo-coding update to
correct the lat/lon map coordinates for their location.
‣ Businesses using administrative address (sometimes outside the region) rather
than local physical street address: The ESRI/InfoUSA business establishment database was cross-referenced with
FAMPO 2040 Long-Range Transportation Plan: Socio-Economic Data Element 9