fascinating link on demographics

[alaskanflyboy]

As you say, things like manufacture are global as are things like food. I'm more curious in terms of those things common to all towns. Things like schools, grocery stores, pharmacies (seems like one on every corner these days), gas-stations, theaters, malls, fast-food restaurants, hospitals, clinics, etc. Though, even with food and goods potentially being built on other planets, countries, or towns; it would be nice to also come up with some idea of the consumption of places for those of us that world-build.

Granted I tend to enjoy complexity, I'm sure there are others that would find it interesting to see what could be developed.

And to go with the original post, I found that Welsh Piper made a generator based on that very article. http://welshpiper.com/content/low-fa...tion-generator

[Spazzle]

I'd be curious to see what could be developed as well. But then again, I'm a number's geek!

Great calculator, btw. Makes running the numbers rather easy...

[alaskanflyboy]

I'd be curious to see what could be developed as well. But then again, I'm a number's geek!

I am as well, especially given my current project of mapping and building a world that is terraformed and inhabited by lost colonists. The planet was created in AstroSynthesis and the surface in Fractal Terrains Pro with some Wilbur editing, so I already had some stats. But I went further and calculated things out that neither program automatically gives, such as speed in orbit and rotation, the planet's volume, surface area, perihelion and aphelion, and longitude of ascending node. So, given my nearly psychotic inclination towards numbers, trying to estimate their needs in a believable way would be a plus.

The setting also has a terraformed Mars involved so there is trade between Mars and Earth, but no highly perishable goods such as fresh fruit. Though, even with that constraint, it's still considered too expensive to ship food except in emergency. It's still given that all travel is at sub-light (yet faster than modern vessels) with inter-system travel run through naturally occurring nodes as is done in Wing Commander and Free Space, which accounts for the constraint.

[Midgardsormr]

I think it was Sigurd who embarked on an interesting demographic study of Herefordshire. That kind of approach might lend itself to developing some numbers that could then be used as generalizations. A study of a major metropolitan area and one of a nearby agrarian community together might provide a great deal of data that could be used in a number of ways.

[Spazzle]

I'm also thinking that, at least in terms of modern numbers, there's most likely real world research already done for business development and marketing industries. That said, getting your hands on that data may be more difficult than we imagine... :-)

[Karro]

I'm also thinking that, at least in terms of modern numbers, there's most likely real world research already done for business development and marketing industries. That said, getting your hands on that data may be more difficult than we imagine... :-)

If, by more difficult, you mean more costly. There's marketing research firms that have data on this kind of thing, but that won't run cheap - particularly since you'd probably have to pay separately for each industry's data.

Some data might also be available through the local SBA, or through the business development outreach of your local business college/university, though it won't be as sofisticated there, and will probably be focused primarily on the local market. I'd imagine you'd still pay for that, as well.

[Spazzle]

That's what I was thinking. I did manage to find some numbers available for free via local governments, but you'd have to extrapolate the information and make some general assumptions for it work. From what I could find, it was VERY market specific - but there is hope, if someone had the time and inclination.

[Midgardsormr]

For more generalized info (that is, applicable to the country at large rather than specific markets), try the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. There are a few papers there that might be of use.

[alaskanflyboy]

This is starting to sound like a community/committee project. I don't even know if it'd need to be so much realistic as it was plausible, but a handy reference to give a realistic feel. We all know that the world differs between countries, which might be something to add as a general modifier between first, second, and third world. Salt and pepper to taste. That's mostly what I'm interested in, a baseline that makes things feel real to the outside observers who look at a fictional world setting.

The town I went to high school in has a population of just over two-thousand and contains one grocery store, two pharmacies (one of which also sells art supplies), four gas stations (two with mini-marts), one hardware store, two bars, one butcher shop, one barber shop, at least five coffee shops, two bakeries, one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school, two small car lots, three auto repair shops, two auto-part stores, a post office, at least eight churches, two parks, three spa/salons, a public library, one fire station, one police station, one hospital, two clinics, at least three apartment complexes, and that's all that comes immediately to mind.

[Spazzle]

If this was turned into a project, I'd definitely be up for helping with research and calculations.