Approach
How to read a GONI score: the (70, 10, 90) logic
Every GONI score is presented in two parts:
- a headline GONI score (e.g. 78), and
- a three-part contextual breakdown written as (local, regional, global) — for example (70, 10, 90).
These three numbers do not sum to the headline score, and they are not averaged together.
Instead, they describe how the same place performs when viewed through three nested spatial contexts.
Concretely:
- 70 (local) means the neighbourhood performs better than 70% of nearby neighbourhoods
- 10 (regional) means it performs better than only 10% of neighbourhoods in its wider region
- 90 (global) means its region performs better than 90% of regions worldwide
The headline GONI score summarises overall performance, while (70, 10, 90) explains where that performance sits spatially.
This structure allows GONI to distinguish between: - places that are locally strong but regionally weak, - places that are locally weak within otherwise strong regions, - and places whose regional context differs sharply from their global position.
Understanding the spatial scales used in GONI
GONI evaluates places using nested spatial scales derived from the H3 global grid system.
You do not need to understand H3 itself to interpret the scores — what matters is that each scale represents a different spatial context in which a place is evaluated.
| GONI scale | What it represents | Approximate size | Technical unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neighbourhood | Immediate local environment | ≈ 1 km² (≈ 1 km across, ≈ 2 minutes travel) | H3 r8 |
| Local | Wider everyday activity area | ≈ 30–40 km² (≈ 5–7 km across, ≈ 5–10 minutes travel) | H3 r6 |
| Regional | Large functional region | ≈ 450–600 km² (≈ 20–30 km across, ≈ 30–60 minutes travel) | H3 r4 |
| Global | Comparison across all regions worldwide | Entire global distribution | World |
Neighbourhood scale (r8)
The neighbourhood scale captures the most immediate local environment.
At this resolution, areas are small — roughly the size of a neighbourhood or micro-district.
This is the scale at which people experience places directly: where they live, walk, shop, and interact day to day.
In GONI, the neighbourhood (local) score answers:
How does this neighbourhood perform compared to nearby neighbourhoods?
Local scale (r6)
The local scale groups many neighbourhoods together into a wider functional area.
This reflects the broader environment people regularly move within for work, services, and everyday activity.
It provides context around a neighbourhood, rather than describing the neighbourhood itself.
In GONI, the regional-context score answers:
Is this neighbourhood embedded in a strong or weak wider local environment?
Regional scale (r4)
The regional scale aggregates many local areas into large functional regions.
These regions are comparable across the world but do not rely on administrative boundaries such as cities, regions, or countries.
They are used purely to provide a consistent basis for comparison.
In GONI, the global-context score answers:
How does this region perform relative to other regions worldwide?
Global scale
The global scale places regions within the worldwide distribution.
Rather than comparing neighbourhoods directly at the global level, GONI compares regions across the entire world.
This avoids distortions caused by national borders, which often mask large internal inequalities.
Why this nesting matters
GONI is intentionally nested rather than averaged:
- neighbourhoods sit within local areas,
- local areas sit within regions,
- regions sit within the global system.
This means a place can be: - strong locally but embedded in a weak regional environment, - weak locally within a strong region, - or regionally disadvantaged despite being globally well-positioned.
By keeping these layers separate, GONI preserves spatial context rather than collapsing multiple realities into a single ranking.