The census, under the hood

1. 1Each week Claude runs the scan from the same written instructions.Claude → Browser scripts
2. 2The operators’ own lists are collected as published; the two area searches run twice on shifted tiles and must agree.Operator lists → Browser scripts; Area searches → Browser scripts
3. 3Python turns them into one table by the source register, and records the fingerprint of every raw file.Browser scripts → Collector; Source register → Collector
4. 4The scan meets the gate: 19 conditions that stop it.Collector → Scan gate
5. 5It passes and is kept as its own dated snapshot.Scan gate → Dated snapshots
6. 6It is compared with last week’s: new, removed, moved, renamed, with changes near the client’s sites flagged.Dated snapshots → Change report

Nothing overwritten

1. 1One source returns half its sites, or a list ends exactly at a page limit, or coordinates come back swapped.Collector → Scan gate
2. 2The gate stops the scan and moves it aside.Scan gate → Rejected
3. 3Last week’s snapshot stays the baseline. Nothing is overwritten, and no change report is built from a broken list.Scan gate → Dated snapshots

1. 1A site has gone from an operator’s list.Change report → Analyst
2. 2The analyst searches that exact position on the operator’s own map, because a missing row is not yet a closed site.Analyst → Operator lists
3. 3The outcome goes into the scan’s notes.Analyst → Check notes
4. 4The change report is run again, and the note appears next to the change.Check notes → Change report

1. 1After any change to the scripts or the register, the self-test runs a whole scan on planted data.Self-test → Scan gate
2. 2Planted changes must be found exactly, a broken source must be stopped, and an existing snapshot must never be overwritten.Self-test → Scan gate
3. 3Only when every test passes is the next real scan trusted.Scan gate → Rejected

1. 1First the rebuild runs on last week’s scan and must reproduce last week’s map exactly.Identity run → Map rebuild
2. 2Then it takes the new scan.Dated snapshots → Map rebuild
3. 3Suggested store and same-place links for new and changed sites are decided by a person and written down by ID.Link review → Map rebuild
4. 4People, stores and areas are joined to every site, and every site layer is recalculated.Population grid → Map rebuild; Chain stores → Map rebuild; Area boundaries → Map rebuild
5. 5The page, an independent calculation and the method text must agree on every figure.Map rebuild → Three-way check
6. 6Only then is the planning map published.Three-way check → Planning map

1. 1On the map, switch the background to the client gap.Planning map → Intelligence layers
2. 2It shows the people with a competitor’s site within 1 km and none of the client’s, from the official census grid.Population grid → Map rebuild; Map rebuild → Three-way check; Three-way check → Planning map
3. 3Decision makers see where customers walk past to a rival, and which chains already host competitors but not the client.Intelligence layers → Decision makers

1. 1Choose how many new sites to plan, from 1 to 200, and which candidates count.Planning map → Expansion planner
2. 2Each candidate is scored only by the people it would bring within 1 km that the client does not reach yet.Intelligence layers → Expansion planner
3. 3The plan takes the best, marks its people as reached and repeats, so the list is the build order. It downloads to Excel, with a shortlist of favourites.Expansion planner → Decision makers

1. 1Claude runs the scan and the rebuild from written instructions, the same way every week.Claude → Browser scripts
2. 2Its work is not trusted on its own: the gate stops any scan that looks wrong.Collector → Scan gate
3. 3A person checks every removal and every doubtful new site.Change report → Analyst
4. 4And every published figure is recalculated three independent ways.Map rebuild → Three-way check