Deep dive into the most common FAQs about LocationOne and what modern site selection really looks like.

One of the themes we hear repeatedly in conversations with both site selectors and economic developers is that communities are discovered through far more paths today than they were even a decade ago. 

Relationships still matter. Site selectors still attend industry events, travel for familiarization tours, and lean on trusted networks. But alongside those traditional methods is a rapidly evolving, data-driven search process. Site selectors are constantly iterating on how they search, using digital tools to screen locations earlier and faster. 

What we see, however, is a growing disconnect. Many communities still assume they will be found passively, which is an assumption that is increasingly out of sync with how the market actually works today. 

How Site Selectors Search Today: From Relationships to Data-First Screening 

What’s interesting is that this shift isn’t unique to site selection. 

Other industries have gone through the same transformation. The travel sector transformed with visibility and search of lodging options. Residential real estate transformed with visibility and search of housing options. In both cases, buyers spend far less time physically searching and far more time screening digitally before they ever engage directly. 

Corporate site selection now follows that same pattern. 

Site selectors want: 

• To screen locations themselves before emailing or talking  
• To see a minimum level of readiness upfront 
• To access reliable, comparable data early in the process 

They are expecting more visibility, earlier, because that’s what their corporate clients are demanding. And they’re making decisions about who even makes the list long before a conversation happens. 

What Expedia and Zillow Teach Us About Site Selection 

When we researched what we hear from site selectors further, we kept arriving at the work of Rich Barton, the entrepreneur behind Expedia, Hotels.com, and Zillow. 

Barton didn’t just build successful software platforms. He fundamentally changed buyer behavior. 

What he recognized early was that traditional models shielded too much information. Buyers were forced to rely on fragmented data that was difficult to find and collect. His insight was simple but powerful: if you give the buyer transparency into the broader market and control of their search, you create a more informed decision-maker and increase the opportunities in the market overall.   

Expedia, for example, launched around 1996 when the travel sector was already huge at $3 trillion but the sector was also fragmented and largely offline. Expedia reduced transaction friction. The lower friction increased participation. Increased participation contributed to overall market growth. Over the next decade the industry doubled in scale to $6 trillion. And, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council, in 2025, the travel sector measured to almost $12 trillion and supported 371 million jobs worldwide. That makes travel one of the largest industries on Earth. And it makes Expedia a contributing growth catalyst by enabling digital distribution.  

Zillow also began by unlocking information that had long been difficult to access, changing expectations about transparency in real estate. What started was a gradual reshaping of how people engage with one of life’s biggest decisions. And it did not stop there. Over time, it evolved into a full ecosystem designed to reduce uncertainty during the entire home purchase experience. 

LocationOne FAQs: What Our Communities Ask Most Often 

Once economic developers understand this macro shift, from being passively discovered after a Site Selection RFI is released to being actively discovered as part of initial location screening, the conversation changes. 

Instead of asking, “Why aren’t site selection projects finding us?” 
They start asking, “How are site selectors and business investors actually discovering and searching?” 

That’s where many of the most common questions about LocationOne come into play. 

Below, we address the FAQs we hear most often from communities navigating this new environment. 

FAQ #1: What Property Analytics Does LocationOne Provide? 

One of the most frequent questions we receive is about property view analytics. 

Economic developers want to understand: 

• How often their properties are viewed 
• Whether interest is increasing or declining 
• What that activity may signal about market demand 

LocationOne provides visibility into how properties are being interacted with on the platform. While page views don’t equal a deal, they do provide something communities have historically lacked, a directional signal. 

These insights help economic developers move from guessing to observing. Now they know with confidence, whether their inventory is visible, competitive, and aligned with active search behavior. 

FAQ #2: What Do “Active Search Sessions” Really Represent? 

Another common question centers on active search sessions and what they actually mean. 

An active session reflects a real user, actively searching, filtering, and comparing properties within the platform. It’s a snapshot of live market engagement, not a static report. 

While it doesn’t reveal who the searcher is or what project they represent, it does answer a critical question many communities have never been able to answer before: 

“Is our market being looked at right now?” 

That awareness alone changes how communities think about readiness, responsiveness, and positioning. 

FAQ #3: How Does LocationOne Fit with a Community’s Website and Storytelling? 

LocationOne is not a replacement for a community’s website, which has been a necessary expectation since 2003.  

And LocationOne is not a replacement for enabling a GIS map viewer on a community’s website, which has been a best practice since 2012.  

LocationOne serves a different and complementary purpose. Think of LocationOne as the front door for economic development property search. 

It is where site selectors and business investors go to screen locations on workforce and demographic data, review major transportation and infrastructure systems, find sites and buildings, save favorites, and decide the communities that merit a deeper outreach and engagement. Once interest is established, that is when a site selector will send a formal Site Selection RFI.  

After a community’s specific property proposal meets the requirements of the Site Selection RFI, then a site selector will zoom in further. The site selector will visit a community’s website, review the brand narrative, seek information about the local employers, and book a site visit to hear the local stories that matter most. 

In other words: 

• LocationOne helps communities be discovered 
• Property proposals help communities be considered 
• Storytelling helps communities be understood 

What This Means for Communities Moving Forward 

The encouraging news is that communities don’t need to reinvent themselves to succeed in this modern environment. They simply need to align with how site selectors and business investors are actually searching.  

LocationOne gives site selectors and business investors a free place to discover and search for properties across North America. For economic developers, by showing up where discovery is already happening, they can feel confident they are making it simple, welcoming, and exciting for new business to find them. 

When visibility improves, discovery is possible. And when discovery is possible, communities gain more opportunities to share their story with the right projects.  

Stay Informed 

If this conversation resonates, you’ll want to stay connected. 

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