Atlas FAQs

Atlas is IBISWorld’s centralized industry and company intelligence hub – a single environment where you can search, filter, sort and cross-reference our entire database to generate custom lists and industry benchmarks instantly. One platform, every industry – you can rely on Atlas to help make better data-driven decisions, faster and with greater confidence.

The Industry Wizard broke down data silos, allowing you to compare hundreds of industries across our database. Atlas has that same core mission, but goes much further – breaking down data and country silos, allowing you to compare thousands of industries and dozens of countries in a single query through clean, structured data. Atlas doesn’t just give you more data – it gives you the ability to run analyses that were previously impractical at the pace key business decisions actually require.

Subscribers can access Atlas in the “Data” tab in the navigation menu.

If you are not subscribed to Atlas, contact your Client Relationship Manager to discuss adding access to your subscription.

Atlas houses data for industries spanning 57 countries across the globe – and these industries collectively account for 87% of global GDP.

Your Atlas access is tied to your organization's IBISWorld subscription. This means the countries and industries available to you in Atlas will reflect what's included in your current subscription.

If you're uncertain as to what's included, or if you'd like to expand your access to more regions, reach out to your Client Relationship Manager.

IBISWorld sources industry data from each country’s national statistics institute, industry-specific sources, and central statistics offices with a mandate to compile and communicate international statistics on economy-wide sectors.

With each source, we thoroughly review respective data collection practices - ensuring the methodologies adopted by each source are transparent and compliant from a regulatory perspective, and rigorous metadata standards are maintained.

When raw data is collated, our internal Data and Research teams then perform further validation to assess the plausibility of data, verifying the values are accurate in their representation of the data point and industry in question.

We then produce industry projections, which combine analyst’s industry expertise with forecasting models subject to quality control processes and standards to ensure evidence-based outcomes.

For more detail on our data sourcing and forecasting methodologies, please click here to view the Sourcing and Methodology area of our Help Center.

Every country adopts a localized framework for categorizing businesses and industries based on their primary economic activities.

The UK Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) framework, for example, is used for collating and presenting statistical data according to economic activity in the United Kingdom, whereas the US version of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is the standard used by Federal statistics agencies in classifying commercial activity for the purpose of collecting statistical data related to the US business economy.

Meanwhile, international reference classifications exist and sit adjacent to localized frameworks, to provide a consistent framework for defining and reporting industry data across jurisdictions. The International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) is a United Nations-standardized framework for classifying economic data by activity, designed specifically to support international comparability of industry and macroeconomic data.

To accommodate consistent comparisons – ensuring a UK SIC-defined industry can be compared to a US NAICS-classified industry apples-to-apples – the data across all industries across our entire collection, whether originally defined per the localized industry classification framework in each country or the international reference that is ISIC, have been mapped to an ISIC code.

The result – one taxonomy across every market. When you use Atlas, the comparison is built in. You don't have to make the data comparable — it already is.

The breadth and depth of our industry data by country does vary. However, we pride ourselves on having unrivalled coverage and being a trusted source of industry data and information. To that end, we will not publish data which cannot be verified and is not accurate – only robust data with transparent sources. For more detail on what data is and is not available by country - and what is available in Atlas specifically – please see our Data Navigator.

Whether you are a brand-new user or seasoned vet, there are resources within Atlas to help you get to grips with navigating the query builder, extract data results and create meaningful value. On-screen walkthroughs, tutorials and demo videos are all accessible via the “Need Help?” button in Atlas, while “Quick Lists” are a great starting point to help understand Atlas’ capabilities. If you need support with getting setup or would like someone to demo Atlas live, please do not hesitate to contact your Client Relationship Manger.

Yes – the data that is available in Atlas, is also available via API. For more detail on what data is available in Atlas, via API and through other data delivery options, please see our Data Dictionary.