Local Cosmos
Infrastructure for thriving local economies.
An activation company for local economies. Local Cosmos helps communities understand what's actually happening in their place — the businesses, events, destinations, and people — and keep that picture current, so more of it can be discovered, supported, and put to work.
The Problem
Local is fragmented.
Local information is distributed across tourism websites, business directories, event calendars, spreadsheets, social networks, GIS systems, registration platforms, internal databases, and institutional knowledge.
When something changes, organizations frequently discover it manually — if they discover it at all.
- Tourism websites
- Business directories
- Event calendars
- Spreadsheets
- Social networks
- GIS systems
- Registration platforms
- Internal databases
- People's heads
A business closesCaught manually
Hours changeCaught manually
Ownership changesCaught manually
An event movesCaught manually
A new destination appearsCaught manually
The challenge isn't simply storing local information.
The challenge is knowing when reality changed.
The Thesis
Local information should behave like infrastructure.
Roads, water, and power are maintained continuously because a place depends on them. Communities need the same for what they know about themselves — a continuously improving understanding of their businesses, places, events, organizations, culture, activity, and relationships.
Local Cosmos is being designed around that idea.
- Businesses
- Places
- Events
- Organizations
- Culture
- Activity
- Relationships
Meet LOIS
LOIS
Local Operating Information System
In active development
LOIS is the intelligence layer behind Local Cosmos. It's being designed to help communities detect changes, verify information, maintain trusted local records, understand relationships, and activate that information across local experiences.
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01
Detect
Notice when something in a community changes — a new business, new hours, an event that moved.
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02
Verify
Confirm what's true with sources and local people, and keep track of where each fact came from.
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03
Organize
Maintain trusted, structured records of businesses, places, events, and organizations.
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04
Connect
Understand relationships — who organizes what, where it happens, and who's involved.
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05
Activate
Put current information to work across discovery, media, and local experiences.
The model LOIS is being built around. Capabilities are in development and being tested in the field.
The Ecosystem
One system, several ways in.
Local Cosmos is the umbrella. LOIS is the shared intelligence underneath. On top sit the experiences where that information meets people:
FestiveFly — a local discovery experience centered on events, places, businesses, and community activity.
Pull Up — a curated local discovery and media layer helping people find things worth doing in their communities.
Trukfoo — a platform focused on food trucks, mobile food, and local food discovery.
Local intelligence
The Local Operating Information System — for collecting, verifying, organizing, connecting, and activating local information.
Who It's For
Built for the organizations
that steward a place.
- 01Economic Development Organizations
- 02Tourism & Destination Marketing Organizations
- 03Main Street Organizations
- 04Business Improvement Districts
- 05Municipalities
- 06Downtown Organizations
Also serving
- Local businesses
- Event organizers
- Community organizations
- Residents and visitors
When the organizations responsible for a place have better information, everyone who lives in, works in, or visits it benefits.
Field Research
Built close to the ground.
Local Cosmos is currently being shaped through conversations, field research, and early pilot exploration with local businesses and community stakeholders in Virginia.
Insights from economic development, tourism, Main Street organizations, businesses, and residents are informing how LOIS and the broader Local Cosmos ecosystem develops.
Virginia · Ongoing
Vision
Every community should understand itself.
- What businesses are here?
- What's changing?
- What's happening?
- What do people love?
- What's missing?
- Where are people gathering?
- What should visitors discover?
- Where can economic activity be activated?
Local Cosmos is an exploration of what becomes possible when communities have better answers to those questions.
Better local information can create better local experiences.
Let's Talk
Let's talk.
If you work in economic development, tourism, Main Street, or local government — or you're just curious about where this is going — I'd like to hear from you.
