GIS cluster scoring glossary
These terms appear in co-location dataset reports, GIS coverage communications, and site selection materials prepared for review by the Independent Directors of the General Partner. This glossary defines the terminology of MCorp's geographic co-location scoring system: the anchor taxonomy, the four-tier classification, the predicate gates that assign each tier, and the radius convention behind the non-overlap gate.
Anchor taxonomy
Every scored cluster forms around a store from one of four anchor classes. Hypermarket anchors are general-merchandise chains such as Walmart, Target, Mercadona, and Tesco. Lifestyle anchors are large-format home-and-furnishings retailers; IKEA is the only chain in this class. Hardware anchors are home-improvement chains such as Home Depot, Lowe's, and Leroy Merlin. Warehouse anchors are membership warehouse clubs such as Costco, Sam's Club, and Makro. A cluster's composition — which anchor classes co-locate at one node — is the first input to tier assignment. The full chain-to-family mapping is documented in the retail brand family taxonomy.
Tier definitions
The current scoring system assigns each cluster to one of four tiers, following the retail property hierarchy used by the International Council of Shopping Centres: Regional, District, Local, and Fringe. Regional is the highest tier; Fringe holds any cluster that clears none of the qualifying gates. This tier system replaced an interim points-based scale on 2026-05-16 — the earlier scale, and the T1/T2/T3 numeric labels attached to it, is retired and does not describe any current cluster. See the tier nomenclature for the full naming history.
Predicate gates
A cluster earns a tier by clearing every required gate for that tier, not by accumulating points toward a threshold. Four gate families apply: composition (which anchor classes are present), catchment rank (the cluster's population percentile within its own country), civic (a hospital of the required classification within the surrounding ring), and non-overlap (the cluster is not dominated by a stronger cluster nearby, measured by the radius convention below). The full gate tables are published at gis.woodfinegroup.com; this glossary defines the concepts, not the pass/fail thresholds.
Radius convention
Clusters are compared for overlap using a fixed 3.0 km radius disk centred on each cluster. Two clusters compete for the same node when the overlap between their disks — measured as intersection over union — exceeds the non-overlap gate's limit; the weaker cluster is then held below the tier its composition would otherwise earn. This single radius convention replaced an earlier scheme of separate 1.0 km and 5.0 km proximity thresholds; the earlier scheme does not apply to any current tier.
Dataset output metrics
Composition descriptor — The anchor classes present at a cluster, shown as a plain-language label such as "Hypermarket + Hardware + Warehouse." Catchment rank — A cluster's percentile position by population within its own country; a cluster in the top 10% nationally clears the strictest catchment gate. Scored cluster — Any geo-located node that has been evaluated against the anchor taxonomy and assigned a tier. The term appears in GIS coverage reports to describe the total count of evaluated nodes in a given geography.