Welcome back! In Part 1 of this two-part blog series celebrating GIS Day, we introduced the broad concept and requirement parameters for a hypothetical Suitability Analysis designed to showcase the power and capabilities of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a tool for modern data analysis. The analysis aimed to determine an ideal location for a new Overit indoor pickleball court in the greater Capital Region of New York.
In Part 2, we pick our winning location and dig into key demographic insights for that area to inform a marketing campaign promoting the facility. Let’s pick up where we left off!
Picking a Winner: Assessing the Final Candidates
GIS mapping and analysis is equal parts art and science. We accelerated and greatly informed our analysis with data, but we weren’t quite ready to simply default to the top-scoring location from the algorithm. Instead, we reviewed the top five ZIP codes by Suitability Score.
The top ZIP code (12495 – Willow, NY) is located at the very bottom of Greene County and overlaps into Ulster County, which isn’t even part of the eight Capital Region counties. As mentioned earlier, we prefer a location within a 20-minute drive of one of our three seed locations, and this ZIP code is well outside that range. The second-highest scoring ZIP code (12836 – Hague, NY) is located at the northern tip of Warren County—again, too remote for our target drive time. Similarly, the adjacent ZIP code (12874 – Silver Bay, NY), which ranked third, shares the same geographic challenge.
The fourth-highest scoring ZIP code (12115 – Malden Bridge, NY) is in northern Columbia County. While interesting, it’s too far east of I-87 and still outside our ideal drive time. Notably, while this ZIP code doesn’t have a pickleball court, a neighboring ZIP code in Kinderhook, NY does—it contains the southernmost court in our dataset.
That brings us to the fifth-highest scoring ZIP code: 12148 – Rexford, NY. This one stood out as our winner!
Rexford, NY: A Data-Backed Choice
Rexford is located in southern Saratoga County, right in the middle of our three seed regions. Previously, we noted that this central area already had the highest concentration of pickleball courts and considered whether one of the other two regions might be a better fit. However, once we began to explore Rexford more closely, it emerged as a compelling location for Overit’s new court.
Let’s zoom in.
This ZIP code is a narrow stretch that runs northwest to southeast along the Saratoga–Schenectady County border. To the west, Schenectady County has several courts; to the northeast, Saratoga County also offers a few. But in the central and southern parts of Rexford itself, there’s a notable coverage gap—an opportunity to serve an underrepresented area.
Neighboring ZIP codes to the east and west show up red on the suitability map, indicating lower scores. This is partly due to proximity but also reflects lower interest in pickleball in those areas. In contrast, Rexford scores quite high on the Pickleball Market Potential Index (MPI), with a value of 154—strong validation of its high Suitability Score. Even though it’s relatively close to other courts, they’re far enough away to preserve market potential.
Digging In: Rexford, NY and Tapestry Analysis
With Rexford selected, we wanted to learn more about the people who live there before fully committing. Fortunately, ESRI’s proprietary Tapestry Segmentation tool lets us dive deep into demographics and psychographics.
If you’re familiar with marketing “personas,” Tapestry profiles are similar—but much more detailed. Using up-to-date Census data, government datasets, and ESRI’s proprietary models, the U.S. population is segmented into one of 60 unique profiles, grouped into 12 broader LifeModes based on lifestyle and life stage.
Below is a snapshot of the latest 2025 Tapestry Segments:
With a few clicks, we identified that Rexford, NY contains just two Tapestry Segments.
A small portion of the population is classified as City Greens (Segment K6), but over 90% falls under the Savvy Suburbanites (Segment L1) category.
Savvy Suburbanites come from LifeMode L, known as Premier Estates. These are typically well-to-do households with some of the highest levels of income, wealth, and educational attainment in the country. Not a bad audience to market to.
We learned that this segment has:
- A median age of 45–46
- A median household income of over $155,000
- A 72% college degree attainment rate
- A median home value around $464,000
These are solidly upper-income households.
Additional demographic and lifestyle indicators show even more potential:
- Rexford households exceed New York State medians in both income and net worth.
- Spending is well above average in most consumer categories.
- Entertainment and recreation are among the top three spending priorities—trailing only education and retirement investments.
- The population is highly health- and fitness-conscious and invests in wellness and sporting activities.
This is the exact kind of data that drives effective media planning. Based on these insights, we’ll recommend a combination of digital marketing—targeting a highly connected audience—with curated offline placements like high-end local publications, fitness centers, or even sponsorships at community events.
Get In Touch with Overit
And that’s it! With just a few solid hours of data gathering, mapping, and suitability analysis, we found an ideal home for Overit’s new indoor pickleball court in Rexford, NY.
The power of GIS software and processes greatly expedited and enhanced our overall research and gave us strong confidence in our decision-making. The next step? Present our findings to leadership… and start stretching. We’ll be setting up serves soon enough.
If your organization has a strong “where” component and you’re looking for actionable geographic insights—whether within your own data or via third-party sources—Overit offers full-scale Business Insights and GIS capabilities.
While today we celebrate GIS Day, these tools are part of a broader data and analytics stack that we leverage every day. If that sounds like a match for your needs, get in touch! We’d be happy to chat, geek out on spatial data, or hop on a call to hear about your vision.
