Managing fascia/owner with the fascia mapping tool
The Fascia Mapping Tool in Sloc Local is designed to help you easily manage and streamline site fascia classifications, especially when dealing with large or inconsistent datasets. This feature ensures your analysis is visually clean as well as methodologically accurate, and aligned with your case-specific classifications of site ownership.
When to use the fascia mapping tool
We highly recommend reviewing and using the fascia mapping tool in the following scenarios:
Reclassifying multiple classifications under the same fascia
Your dataset may classify sites' ownership in a manner which does not align with your case-specific classification of fascia (e.g. Co-operative Group and Central England Co-operative might be treated as under separate ownership in the data, but you would like them treated as the same fascia). With Sloc Local's fascia mapping tool you can easily standardise according to your intended classification by remapping them under a single fascia name.
No need to manually edit each individual row.
Automatically treat multiple categorisations as one unified fascia for both visual and analytical purposes.
Can be used to simply re-format fascia name across all analysis as well.
Remedying inconsistent naming & typos
Depending on the quality of your uploaded data, the fascia field may sometimes refer to the same fascia using different terminology or contain varying typos across different sites. For analytical purposes, it is essential that fascia naming is fully consistent across all stores. The fascia mapping tool allows you to easily spot and correct inconsistencies without having to trawl through your entire table.
No need to trawl through each individual row.
Easily spot and correct inconsistencies.
Review to ensure low data quality doesn't lead to inaccurate results.
Too many fascia to display clearly
When your dataset includes a large number of unique fascia - particularly common in markets with large numbers of independently owned sites - you may prefer (or be required) to group them under a single, catch-all category for simplicity and improved visuals.
Easily group all fascia with only one store by assigning them the same catch-all name (e.g. Independents).
You can also scroll through the full list and add others manually to the same group.
The impact of this mapping purely visual does not affect fascia groupings for analytical purposes.
This helps to declutter maps, legends, and outputs, making your results easier to interpret and present.
How to use the fascia mapping tool
The fascia mapping tool offers a simple interface with a few powerful options that let you clean and group fascia directly from the dropdown.
Open the mapping window
Once you have selected your fascia/owner column, click on the “Set a mapping…” button found under the fascia column dropdown.
This will open a pop-up window showing a breakdown of fascia names and their associated site counts. The middle column represents the current categorisation by fascia and the column on the right represents your new, updated classification after applying mappings.
Option 1: Unify multiple names for the same fascia
When your intended fascia group is listed under different names (e.g. The Co-operative Group and Central England Co-operative), you’ll see how many sites exist under each. In the below example, there are 3 sites under the name of The Co-operative Group and 16 sites under Central England Co-operative.
Enter the unified name you’d like to use across these categories in the _clean* field.
Click “Update” to apply the change. You will see a new column ending with _clean* added to the table automatically where both fascia names are now merged under "Co-op".
Option 2: Group single-site fascia under a shared name
The tool also brings to the top fascia associated with only one site - these are often good candidates for grouping under a shared name to keep your legends tidy on your maps.
If you’d like to categorise them as Independents (or another name), type that name in the Independent fascia name field.
Click “Auto fill” to apply this grouping to all single-site fascia. You’ll see these changes reflected in the table below.
Once you’re happy with your mappings, click “Update” to apply the edits to the main dataset.
Your analysis will now reflect these changes automatically.
Flexible Controls
You can switch the fascia mapping feature on or off at any time depending on your analysis needs. This flexibility ensures that your setup can evolve as your merger case progresses.
