Is there an 'i' in gdis? the problem of representation in geodemographic and lifestyle systems

The paper considers the potential pitfalls of transforming and synthesising social-economic and behavioural-attitudinal datasets across multiple levels of aggregation, with respect to Geodemographic Information Systems (GDIS) and the formation of areal profiles. These pitfalls are associated with the ecological fallacy - the inappropriate ascription of the characteristics of areal data to individuals and point locations within those areas - and suggest that intimate claims to 'know' individual consumers, as propounded through some GDIS advertising, are hyperbolic. It is questioned whether the infusion of lifestyles or consumer data such as the Target Group Index (a UK survey of product consumption and media preferences) to the (UK) census-based geodemographic clusters will give rise to areal profiles which are representative of the (consumer-) behaviours of individuals, suggesting where this infusion may prove to be problematic