Use case: a cold store looks for a plot

The brief

The company sends its site manager a one page brief on a Monday. It asks for:

• 5 to 8 hectares of land zoned for agro or food processing.
• At least 20 MW of power, because cold rooms run all day and night.
• At least 500 m3 of water a day.
• A highway entrance within 1 km, because trucks leave every hour.
• A serviced plot outside any flood zone.

The search today

The site manager downloads a zone brochure. It lists districts, not plots. Power appears as a total for the zone. There is a contact form.

So she writes. The reply comes 4 days later with a spreadsheet of plots and a note that capacities are "to be confirmed". Two of the plots she likes turn out to be reserved already.

After two weeks she still has no clear answer, and two other locations are already on her shortlist. The zone did nothing wrong. It simply made her work for every fact.

The same search on a map

Now take the same brief to the Demo Zone, our sample region with 117 plots. She opens Site Selection and answers the questions a site selector would ask: what she is building, how much land, what the site must have, and when.

The ranked shortlist puts plot C-012 first. In the sample data it has 5.8 ha zoned for agro processing, 33 MW, 800 m3 of water a day, a highway entrance 0.4 km away, roads and utilities at the boundary, and no flood risk. It also shows the incentives that apply: a land price discount for first movers, customs exemption on equipment and workforce training support.

Plot C-027 comes close: 5.7 ha, 34 MW and 600 m3 of water. But it is not serviced yet and the highway is 1 km away. The shortlist says so in plain words, so she knows exactly why it ranks lower.

What changed

The facts were the same in both versions. What changed is when she could see them. On the map, the answer took one sitting instead of two weeks, and the zone stayed on her list.

Her enquiry is also better. It names plot C-012, the project and the start date, so the investor services team can reply with a meeting proposal instead of a brochure.

Try it yourself

1. 1Open the Demo Zone and choose Site Selection.
2. 2Describe a cold store: about 6 ha, 20 MW, water and a highway nearby.
3. 3Open the first plot, read its card and add it to your shortlist.

Then ask yourself one question: how long would the same search take on your own zone today?