Fuzzy clustering analysis in geomarketing research

In this study we use geographic information systems (GIS) and computational intelligence for geomarketing analysis. GIS technology offers a powerful set of tools for the input, management, and output of data, whereas computational intelligence is used for the analysis and the clustering of data by the use of unsupervised fuzzy clustering and the Gustafson–Kessel algorithm. The advantage of fuzzy geomarketing segmentation is that a customer is not assigned exclusively to one segment only, but rather with a membership value to each cluster. The proposed methodology is applied to the metropolitan area of Athens, Greece. A dataset describes 130 demographic, lifestyle, and economy variables, and the results are analysed and discussed. <br> <b>Keywords:</b> geomarketing analysis, fuzzy clustering, Gustafson–Kessel algorithm, geographical information systems