Frequently asked questions

Verno uses only sources whose licence permits use in client reports. Location and competitor data comes from OpenStreetMap under the Open Database License (ODbL) and from Foursquare Open Source Places under the Apache License 2.0. Administrative boundaries also come from OpenStreetMap. Population and age structure come from the 2022 German census (Data licence Germany – attribution – 2.0); other demographic data, where used, comes from official statistical offices (Destatis, Eurostat). Attribution is included in every report.

Every source is documented in the report appendix. You can trace any claim back to its original source.

Analyses rest mostly on information about businesses, not people. Where a business is run by a natural person, such as a sole trader or a medical practice, its name and address are nonetheless personal data under GDPR. Verno processes them on the basis of legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR), gives notice under Art. 14 GDPR in its privacy policy, and removes businesses that object from future analyses and stored data. Population data and administrative boundaries are anonymised official or open data with no personal reference.

Analysis data is stored in the EU. For website hosting and email delivery we use providers based in the US; the privacy policy names them. A data processing agreement (DPA) is available on request.

POI data is retrieved at the time of analysis. Each report therefore reflects the state of the data as of the delivery date. Administrative boundaries change rarely and are updated as needed. A site analysis is a snapshot at the time of delivery.

For ongoing monitoring, periodic updates are available at reduced rates. The delivered dataset can also be re-queried later.

Every POI record goes through multi-source verification before entering the analysis. Entries flagged as inconsistent (closed businesses, address errors, duplicates, wrong category) are filtered out. The filtering rules are documented per category and visible in the report appendix.

Verno does not promise one-hundred-percent accuracy. Real-world data contains noise: a newly opened business may not yet appear in any source, a closure can persist in datasets for weeks. The methodology is designed to minimize false positives and gaps, not to eliminate them.

Yes. Every site analysis documents its data sources, filtering rules, scoring criteria, and the specific values that produce the ranking. Numbers in the report are traceable to rows in the underlying dataset, which is delivered alongside the report.

If an internal review or external partner questions a claim, you have everything needed to reproduce or defend it.

Geographically, the data pipeline works wherever Google Places and OpenStreetMap have sufficient coverage. In practice, that covers all OECD markets. The active focus is on Germany and the EU, where data density is highest and the founder’s operational knowledge is strongest.

Industry experience currently includes restaurants, optician chains, hearing-aid retail, medical supply stores, and adjacent retail sectors. Additional categories are possible; the pipeline is category-agnostic and calibrated per engagement.

A typical agency engagement runs six to twelve weeks, costs between €30,000 and €80,000, and delivers a slide deck. Verno delivers a verified dataset, a scored ranking, and a written report in days, for €1,200 to €2,500 per engagement.

The tradeoff is scope per engagement. Agencies cover qualitative work (interviews, brand perception, expert panels) that Verno does not. For pure location and data decisions, Verno is faster, cheaper, and more reproducible. Where qualitative depth is needed, a combination makes sense.

You own the report and the underlying dataset for internal use within your organization. That includes sharing with employees, advisors, and partners involved in the decision. Verno retains the rights to methodology, code, and pipeline.

Reselling the delivered dataset as a standalone product to third parties is not included and requires a separate agreement.

The standard is a mutual non-disclosure agreement. An NDA template is available, or Verno signs yours. Client names, scoring criteria, and specific locations are never referenced in marketing, case studies, or other engagements without written consent.

Published case studies are either fully anonymized or marked with explicit written approval.

A fair question. Three structural factors reduce the risk.

First, every deliverable is self-contained. Report, dataset, methodology documentation, and source references transfer to your ownership upon delivery. Later reuse or repetition of the analysis does not require ongoing involvement from Verno.

Second, the pipeline runs on long-lived infrastructure (Google Places, OpenStreetMap, statistical offices) that any competent technical team can operate. The value lies in the methodology, not in a proprietary data source.

Third, for clients with framework agreements, code escrow and methodology handover can be contractually arranged.

What Verno does not offer today is a multi-person team with redundant capacity. Engagements are scoped and scheduled accordingly.

Five to ten business days from kickoff to delivery, depending on scope. Multi-site framework agreements run faster per site after the first one.

Data requests (the geo-spatial data product, currently handled manually) are typically delivered within two to three business days.

Two paths. For one-off additions (an extra location, a changed scoring criterion), the engagement extension is billed at the engagement rate. For ongoing needs (quarterly updates, framework agreements across a branch network), a framework agreement at €2,000 to €2,500 per engagement with volume discounts is the clean structure.