Cognised existence: A business location is the physical place where an enterprise conducts its activity — a shop, a factory floor, an office. It is not the business itself (that’s legal registration), not the building (that’s Buildings), and not the service provided (that’s Services). It is the operational presence of economic activity at a point in space.
Question: Where does a business physically operate?
What is a Business Location?
A business location answers “where is this enterprise, physically?” This is deceptively complex because a single company can have one registered office but dozens of production sites. Many national business registries separate these two concepts — and choosing the wrong one produces misleading maps.
Critical Distinction: Firm Address vs Production Unit
| Address Type | Entity | Meaning | Use When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firm address | Virksomhed → Adressering | Legal/administrative presence (registered office) | “Where is the company registered?” |
| Production unit address | Produktionsenhed → Adressering | Physical operational location | ”Where are the restaurants/factories/shops?” |
Always decide which address type matches your question before geocoding. For “where are the restaurants?”, you want production unit addresses. For “where is the company registered?”, you want firm addresses.
Realisations
Instead of hardcoding implementation schemas here, SPHERE separates semantic meaning from dataset implementation. The realisations are listed in priority order:
- CVR (CentraleVirksomhedsregister) — Registered Addresses (administrative_register)
- OpenStreetMap — Commercial POIs (volunteered)
- BBR (BygningerOgBoliger) — Buildings by Use Code (administrative_register)
Combining Realisations
| Need | Best Realisation | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Authoritative business registry with attributes | CVR | Complete, official, includes P-enheder |
| Quick geocoded point map | OSM | Direct geometry, no joins |
| Building-level analysis (area, age, type) | BBR | Physical structure attributes |
| Complete picture | CVR + DAR + BBR | Business attributes + coordinates + building characteristics |
Cross-Domain Relevance (Threads)
- Geosphere (Landform and Topography): Business locations relate to terrain and elevation context (e.g., flood-exposure analysis for operational sites).
- Anthroposphere Perception & Thematics: Business density and spatial distribution directly shape thematic urban interpretation layers — retail corridors, industrial zones, office districts.
Classical Theme References
| Standard | Theme | Link |
|---|---|---|
| INSPIRE | Production and Industrial Facilities | Production and Industrial Facilities |
| INSPIRE | Utility and Governmental Services | Utility and Governmental Services |