Eixos
{{Short description|Catalan for-profit, cartographical urban economy project}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Infobox project|abbreviation=eixos.cat|commercial=Yes|founder=David Nogué i Espinilla|launch_date={{start date|2011}}|launch_place=Barcelona|website={{URL|www.eixos.cat}}|logo=Eixos logo.png|owner=Service offered by the limited company Planol.info
(Nolpla Nolpla S.L.)|type=Online observatory on geomarketing and business mapping}}
EIXOS or eixos.cat ({{IPA|ca|ˈe.ʃus|label=Eastern Calatan:}}, "axis") is a Catalan for-profit, cartographical urban economy project.{{cite news|access-date=29 May 2023|date=October 2015|language=ca|location=Barcelona|title=Ciutats intel·ligents. Recursos per a la recerca de feina|url=https://treball.barcelonactiva.cat/porta22/images/cat/Recursos%20per%20a%20la%20recerca%20de%20feina%20smart%20cities_CAT_tcm9-41142.pdf|work=Barcelona Activa. Ajuntament de Barcelona}} It accounts as the core service of Planol.info, an online mapping company founded in 2011 in Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) by David Nogué i Espinilla. The business is registered as the limited company Nolpla Nolpa SL, with headquarters in Barcelona and Arcata, California.{{cite web|access-date=29 May 2023|date=n.d.|first=José Ignacio|language=es|last=Sánchez|publisher=Nosolosig|title=planol.info – Soluciones geo móviles|url=https://www.nosolosig.com/empresas/item/planol-info|archive-date=29 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529151459/https://www.nosolosig.com/empresas/item/planol-info|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|access-date=29 May 2023|language=ca|publisher=Pacte Industrial de la Regió Metropolitana de Barcelona|title=David Nogué Espinilla|url=https://www.pacteindustrial.org/ca/fem-xarxa/david-nogue/}}
The service runs as a consulting observatory. It was a pioneer in providing solutions for online geomarketing and business mapping by crossing own databases with open, public repositories under Creative Commons licenses.{{cite web|access-date=28 May 2023|language=ca|publisher=Ajuntament de Barcelona|title=Entrevista a Eixos.cat|url=https://opendata-ajuntament.barcelona.cat/ca/entrevista-eixoscat}}{{Cite book |last1=Grimaldi |first1=Didier |title=Implementing data-driven strategies in smart cities: a roadmap for urban transformation |last2=Carrasco-Farré |first2=Carlos |date=2022 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0-12-821123-6 |series=Smart cities series |location=Amsterdam |pages=25–26 |language=en}} During its launching year, Planol.info was awarded with a grant from Fundació puntCat to incubate EIXOS.{{Cite news |date=15 December 2011 |lang=ca |title=Celebrat l'acte central dels 5 anys de .cat: Presentació del nou President i Lliurament dels Ajuts puntCAT |work=Fundació puntCat |url=https://xn--fundaci-r0a.cat/celebrat-lacte-central-dels-5-anys-de-cat-presentacio-del-nou-president-i-lliurament-dels-ajuts-puntcat/ |access-date=30 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530214733/https://xn--fundaci-r0a.cat/celebrat-lacte-central-dels-5-anys-de-cat-presentacio-del-nou-president-i-lliurament-dels-ajuts-puntcat/ |archive-date=30 May 2023 |url-status=live }} In 2012, it received one of the Galileo Awards from the European Space Agency (ESA){{cite news|access-date=2023-06-01|date=2012|pages=31|title=The Results 2012 - European Satellite Navigation Competition|url=https://email.azo-space.com/asset/8:esnc-results-2012|work=European Space Agency}} and also one of the Laus Prizes (Premis Laus) by Foment de les Arts i el Disseny (FAD) as the second-best web product design.{{cite news|access-date=29 May 2023|language=es|title=ADG FAD – Laus 2012|url=https://www.elpublicista.es/adjuntos/fichero_7284_20120706.pdf|work=El Publicista}}
Data processing and business operations
EIXOS serves as an observatory for the economic activity of cities and industrial parks around the world. It develops market research and strategic commercial planning, both for public administration and for private development.
It is considered one of the most relevant consulting projects on mapping in the so-called Catalan countries and in Spain.{{cite news|access-date=28 May 2023|date=31 March 2012|first=Francesc|language=ca|last=Muñoz|title=Nokia enriquirà els seus mapes amb dades de Planol.info|url=https://www.leconomic.cat/article/4-economia/18-economia/524050-nokia-enriquira-els-seus-mapes-amb-dades-de-planolinfo.html|work=L'Econòmic}} Throughout EIXOS, Planol.info delivers Creative Commons licensed information.{{cite news|date=2013|doi=10.1109/MTS.2013.2286421|first1=Albert|first2=Boris|first3=Manuel|first4=Miquel|first5=Esteve|issn=0278-0097|issue=4|language=en|last1=Domingo|last2=Bellalta|last3=Palacin|last4=Oliver|last5=Almirall|pages=50–56|title=Public Open Sensor Data: Revolutionizing Smart Cities|url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6679327|volume=32|work=IEEE Technology and Society Magazine}} Its datasets derive from a combination of staffed and voluntary fieldwork over a specific commercial or geographical network, which is then crossed with multiple public information repositories: demography, land use (urban qualification), and many additional economical metrics. Finally, the company applies predictive analytic layers to the refined datasets. In Catalonia EIXOS is registered as one of the main governmental Web Service providers of the Catalan Space Data Infrastructure.{{cite news|access-date=29 May 2023|date=January 2013|issue=núm. 23|language=ca|publisher=Infraestructura de Dades Espacials de Catalunya|title=Contribució Planol.Info, amb les capes d'activitats econòmiques EIXOS|url=https://www.icgc.cat/L-ICGC/Sobre-l-ICGC/Memories-i-butlletins/Fulls-informatius-i-butlletins|work=Notícies del CS IDEC}}
Shortly after being founded the project initially served several Catalan municipalities such as Barcelona, Girona,{{cite news|access-date=28 May 2023|date=5 May 2013|first=Dani|language=ca|last=Vilà|location=Girona|title=Un estudi detecta un 14% de comerços buits a Girona|url=http://www.elpuntavui.cat/article/4-economia/18-economia/642716-un-estudi-detecta-un-14-de-comercos-buits-a-girona.html#madrid|work=El Punt Avui}} Mollet del Vallès,{{Cite news |date=2 October 2010 |title=Neix el web 'Molletnegocis.cat' |url=http://www.contrapunt.cat/noticia/13920/neix-el-web-molletnegocis.cat |access-date=30 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313051527/http://www.contrapunt.cat/noticia/13920/neix-el-web-molletnegocis.cat |archive-date=13 March 2016}} or Tarragona.{{cite web|access-date=28 May 2023|archive-date=20 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150220132105/http://www.abc.es/agencias/noticia.asp?noticia=1263770|date=3 October 2012|language=es|publisher=ABC|title=Tarragona estrena una web para dinamizar la economía local|url=http://www.abc.es/agencias/noticia.asp?noticia=1263770}} Those reports were subsequently used for economical urban planning. Furthermore, some results and conclusions were also applied into academic and university output on business density, commercial enhancement, employment policies, and crisis prevention.{{cite journal|date=1 May 2019|doi=10.1016/j.techfore.2018.07.034|first1=Didier|first2=Vicenc|first3=Carlos|language=en|last1=Grimaldi|last2=Fernandez|last3=Carrasco|pages=249–257|title=Heuristic for the localization of new shops based on business and social criteria|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162517312271|volume=142|journal=Technological Forecasting and Social Change|hdl=2117/122642 |s2cid=158667019 |hdl-access=free}} By 2013, EIXOS' commercial basic layers had already mapped the whole area of Catalonia.
In the mid-2010s Planol.info also implemented EIXOS' geomarketing services and open-access public databases in other Spanish cities such as Madrid and Seville. In a partnership with the European Space Agency, it covered a set of European cities such as Florence (Italy) and Paris (France) as well. Additionally, the Dutch company Layar published several layers of textile, catering, floral, and ironmongery retailers for their smartphone-oriented products.{{cite web|access-date=2023-05-29|author-link=Gina Tost i Faus|date=20 June 2014|first1=Gina|first2=Xavier|format={{Subscription required}}|language=ca|last1=Tost|last2=Vidal|publisher=Ara|title=Què podem fer per aquí? Treu el mòbil|url=https://www.ara.cat/premium/que-treu-mobil-aplis-culturals_1_2076937.html}} Google Business View and Here Technologies (the mapping branch of Mercedes-Benz) became highlighted customers of Planol.info's services.{{cite news|access-date=29 May 2023|date=21 October 2020|first=Marta|language=es|last=Sardá|title=Un algoritmo para evitar el cierre del comercio y la restauración|url=https://www.elespanol.com/invertia/disruptores-innovadores/innovadores/tecnologicas/20201021/algoritmo-evitar-cierre-comercio-restauracion/529698647_0.html|work=Invertia. El Español}}
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, EIXOS expanded its range of commercial solutions towards predictive data analysis on the impact of lockdowns in the urban commercial distribution and resilience. The observatory developed customized algorithms and intervention maps in close collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for cities such as Manhattan (US), London (UK), São Paulo (Brazil), and again Barcelona.{{cite news|access-date=29 May 2023|date=31 October 2019|last=M.V.O.|title=David Nogué (Eixos.cat): "Se está apostando demasiado por los 'flagships' y no son rentables"|url=https://www.ejeprime.com/mercado/david-nogue-eixoscat-se-esta-apostando-demasiado-por-los-flagships-y-no-son-rentables.html|work=EjePrime}} In the latter, moreover, those predictions were adapted to predict the impact of new street reclamation (in Catalan, superilles),{{cite news|access-date=29 May 2023|date=23 April 2023|first=David|last=Nogué|title=Superilla: la pacificació del comerç?|url=https://www.leconomic.cat/article/2281880-superilla-la-pacificacio-del-comerc.html|work=L'Econòmic}}{{cite news|access-date=29 May 2023|date=29 January 2022|language=ca|title=David Nogué: "Els polígons industrials amb comerç són més competitius"|url=https://www.radiocomerc.cat/blog/2022/01/29/david-nogue-els-poligons-industrials-amb-comerc-son-mes-competitius/|work=Ràdio Comerç}} and to better define the quality decrease of tourism-oriented shops.{{cite news|access-date=29 May 2023|date=18 September 2016|language=ca|title=Alerten de la degradació del comerç a la Barceloneta|url=https://beteve.cat/economia/comercos-barceloneta-basars-degradacio/|work=Betevé}}