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Location Data Knowledge Base

Data methodologies, and Release schedules.
The US and CA Data and Spatial Bundles contains many datasets, including the Melissa Data CASS engine.  While the US and CA Data Bundles are updated every quarter, CASS is updated every 2 months.  Luckily, the install file size for CASS is just over 1gb, so we are able to provide this update as a download.  Once downloaded, a few simple steps will get you on your way to using the most updated version of CASS. On occasion though, users have reported a few issues with being unable to utilize CASS.  Because of this, we have decided to provide full download and install instructions, with a final portion of frequent questions and issues.   To install the latest CASS: Download the latest version of CASS.  This is sent via email from Alteryx Products on a bi-monthly basis and will be in the format of the following: http://downloads.alteryx.com/CASS_US_CAN_20YY_MM.exe YY is the current year and MM is the current month release of CASS.  Double-click on the .exe file.  This starts the 7-Zip Self-Extractor.  Choose a location where you would like to extract the install files. IMPORTANT: This does not actually install the files, it only extracts the install files. Once the install files have been extracted, located and double-click the file DataInstall.exe.  This will be in the directory you just extracted to in the previous step. When the install dialogue pops up, check the box to accept the license agreement and click Next. The next screen allows you to select datasets to install.  Depending on which install you've chosen, you will see the option to install US, Canada, or both versions of CASS.  Check all boxes, then click Next.  This screen displays all current datasets installed on your machine.  Checking any box here will uninstall the dataset.  By default, the previous version of CASS will be checked for uninstall.  Make sure all prior versions of CASS are checked, then click Next. IMPORTANT: You must uninstall all previous versions of CASS during this process.  If you have any expired versions of CASS on your local machine, no other versions of CASS will work properly. Browse to the directory you wish to install CASS to, then click Finish. Once the above steps have been completed, you will be able to use CASS on your local machine. FAQ/Common Errors: Error: CASS (2): CASS is not installed properly or it has expired. Please contact your reseller or Client Services at 1-866-516-2400 1-866-516-2400 FREE to receive an updated CASS database. This is often because a prior version of CASS is still installed.  Re-run DataInstall.exe and make sure all prior versions of CASS are checked in the Uninstall screen. CASS was installed on a network drive and permissions are not allowing you to see it.  Try re-running DataInstall.exe and install CASS on a local drive. Error: CASS (1): The Melissa Data CASS engine appears to not be installed (can't find dll). This is often the result of mismatched registry entries or install folders.  Please contact support@alteryx.com for resolution. In most cases, the solutions for error 1 above will resolve your issue, but if not please don't hesitate to reach out to support@alteryx.com for handling. Thanks, and until next time! Chad Follow me on Twitter! @AlteryxChad 
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You just reverse geocoded latitude/longitude coordinates, now you need structured address fields, right?
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Access is denied when user attempts to install CASS datasets both Locally and at the Network level
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The Q2 2020 Business and Location Insights data packages are now available for your analysis. The packages include analytics-ready data from a variety of vendors as well as data-specific analysis tools which will empower users to get the most from the packaged data. Here’s what you have to look forward to in this release!
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The Q3 2020 Business and Location Insights data packages are now available for your analysis. The packages include analytics-ready data from a variety of vendors as well as data-specific analysis tools which will empower users to get the most from the packaged data. Here’s what you have to look forward to in this release!
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The Q1 2021 Business and Location Insights data packages are now available to plug into your analytic processes.
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You know what really stinks? Working with addresses that aren’t standardized or verified. Whether human-input, or one of the many address formatting standards in the U.S., being stuck with an address you can’t either (1) identify or (2) ensure it exists can be a real pain in the… well…\n  \n CASS is here to help!
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The Q4 2019 Business and Location Insights data packages are now available for analysis. The packages include analytics-ready data from a variety of vendors as well as data-specific analysis tools which will empower users to get the most from the packaged data.
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Previous Methodology Guzzler (Q1 2015) Removed from data installers starting Q2 2021
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 Unfortunately at this time, non-U.S. and Canadian geocoding is performed via API calls, and as such, requires an Internet connection.
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When registering the point datasets in Allocate, it is possible to get them mixed up between the Experian FULL US and Experian US datasets. When this happens the datasets are put into an error state and the Allocate tool will not open properly.
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After upgrading to 2020.2 DUNS numbers do not return any matches. The DUNS number should be 9 digits, so the Workflow may need to be modified to prepend a 0.
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For 2020, these are the scheduled release dates for the standard Data packages.
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Greetings Everyone!   The Q3 2019 Business and Location Insights data packages are now available for analysis. The packages include analytics-ready data from a variety of vendors as well as data-specific analysis tools which will empower users to get the most from the packaged data. All data packages are available via the Downloads & Licenses portal. US & Canada Business Insights customers will receive their hard drives later this week, but they are also welcome to download the data from the portal.   All documentation packages are included in the attached .zip archive. Be sure to take a look at some of the recent articles in the Location Data Knowledge Base which will help you get started with your Insights packages. There are articles related to installation, mapping, and many more.   Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns by commenting below.   Happy Alteryxing!
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The US Data package includes analytics-ready data from TomTom, Experian, Dun & Bradstreet and the US Census as well as data-specific analysis tools to get the most from the packaged data. The documentation package includes –   Release notes, variable list and change log Experian CAPE demographic data methodology document, Mosaic segment descriptions Experian ConsumerView Analytical file – user guide and penetration report Simmons overview D&B Analytical file - data description, SIC lookup code, penetration report Kalibrate Technologies traffic count overview and metadata Spatial products include documentation on drive time methodology and Alteryx map layers    Release Documentation download: http://downloads.alteryx.com/ReleaseDocumentation/Q32017_US_Data.zip
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The US Data package includes analytics-ready data from TomTom, Experian, Dun & Bradstreet and the US Census as well as data-specific analysis tools to get the most from the packaged data. The documentation package includes –   Release notes, variable list and change log Experian CAPE demographic data methodology document, Mosaic segment descriptions Experian ConsumerView Analytical file – user guide and penetration report Simmons overview D&B Analytical file - data description, SIC lookup code, penetration report Kalibrate Technologies traffic count overview and metadata Spatial products include documentation on drive time methodology and Alteryx map layers   Release Documentation download: http://downloads.alteryx.com/ReleaseDocumentation/Q22017_US_Data.zip
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The US Spatial Data includes analytics-ready data from TomTom and the US Census as well as data-specific analysis tools to get the most from the spatial data. The documentation package includes – Release notes, variable list and change log Spatial products include documentation on drive time methodology and Alteryx map layers   Release Documentation download: http://downloads.alteryx.com/ReleaseDocumentation/Q22017_US_Spatial.zip
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The Q4 2016 US Data and US Spatial Data installs were mistakenly shipped with an Alteryx Maps macro named TomTomLayerSelection and should not be placed into production under any circumstances.    Users running Alteryx v. 10.1 and earlier versions who have installed the Q4 2016 US Data[1] update may receive the following error upon opening Alteryx:                     Action: To fix the error, or to remove the macro from the Tool Palette, users will need to delete the folder containing TomTomLayerSelection.yxmc by following these steps:   1. Close Alteryx and navigate to the Q4 Alteryx Maps data install folder, typically located here – Program Files (x86)\Alteryx\DataProducts\AlteryxMap\TomTom_US_2016_Q4   2. Delete the Macros folder, shown in the screenshot below:                       3. Relaunch Alteryx. You should no longer see the error message.        [1] US Spatial end users will not see this error when opening Alteryx  
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In a situation with a large database of thousands of records, some addresses may not be valid.  Inevitably, CASS will output the bad addresses along with the good addresses. The issue is that certain addresses double up on the suite.  Since, in this example, the input file had address and suite in the same line the file looked similar to this: The CASS output would actually find the suite, but not add it to the CASS_Suite output.  This normally would not be an issue, but it actually would add it to the CASS_AddressPlusSuite field, creating a file that in fact looked like the following: This issue is inherent to the MelissaData engine which drives the CASS tool.  The best way to address the issue is to include the CASS_Results field in the output from the CASS Tool.  This will give a code that notifies the user of the CASS match level.  Good addresses will have a match level of AS01 or AS02, whereas bad addresses will have different codes.  The entire listing of all possible CASS_Results codes is available in the Help File by searching for CASS Results.  Eliminating the codes that highlight bad addresses will alleviate this issue.
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The Q3 2018 US Spatial package includes analytics-ready data from TomTom and the US Census as well as data-specific analysis tools to get the most from the spatial data. The documentation package attached includes –   Release notes, variable list and change log Spatial products include documentation on drive time methodology and Alteryx map layers   What's new in this release?   Sample workflows included with the data installs are now grouped within a top-level "Data Install Samples" category Annual updates for Places, Other Name Places, CBSAs, and CCDs/MCDs   Please download and extract the attached 'Q32018_US_Spatial.zip' for the complete documentation.
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Data package documentation for the Q4 2017 data releases may be downloaded from the links below...   US Data: http://downloads.alteryx.com/ReleaseDocumentation/Q42017_US_Data.zip CA Data: http://downloads.alteryx.com/ReleaseDocumentation/Q42017_CA_Data.zip US Spatial: http://downloads.alteryx.com/ReleaseDocumentation/Q42017_US_Spatial.zip CA Spatial: http://downloads.alteryx.com/ReleaseDocumentation/Q42017_CA_Spatial.zip UK & ROI Spatial: http://downloads.alteryx.com/ReleaseDocumentation/Q42017_UKROI_Spatial.zip EU Spatial: http://downloads.alteryx.com/ReleaseDocumentation/Q42017_EU_Spatial.zip AU & NZ Spatial: http://downloads.alteryx.com/ReleaseDocumentation/Q42017_AUNZ_Spatial.zip BR Spatial: http://downloads.alteryx.com/ReleaseDocumentation/Q42017_BR_Spatial.zip   Please note that documentation packages are also included with the download from licenses.alteryx.com and the external hard drive (US Data or Canada Data)
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