---
title: "How Sampling Affects Data Availability in Mapp Intelligence"
slug: "how-sampling-affects-data-availability-in-mapp-intelligence"
updated: 2025-08-26T11:11:19Z
published: 2025-08-26T11:11:19Z
canonical: "docs.mapp.com/how-sampling-affects-data-availability-in-mapp-intelligence"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mapp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How Sampling Affects Data Availability in Mapp Intelligence

Mapp Intelligence always works with **raw data first**. As part of your account setup, raw data is available for a defined period. After this period, the system switches to **sampled data** so that you can continue to analyze longer timeframes.

Mapp clearly notifies you in the frontend when sampling is applied.

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### What happens to my data over time?

For many accounts, the raw data period is set to **14 months**. This allows you to run detailed year-over-year comparisons at full granularity.

If you select a timeframe that goes beyond your raw data period, Mapp automatically switches to sampled data. Not every data point is retained, but representative samples are used to approximate the full data.

![Timeline showing the switch from raw data to sampled data after 14 months.](https://cdn.document360.io/554b9b98-6720-4d8b-9919-c7b203d72648/Images/Documentation/ss1(296).png)

After 14 months, calculations switch from raw data to sampled data.

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### How does sampling work?

With sampling, only part of the data is kept, while results are scaled up to reflect the whole.

Example: with a **sampling factor of 3**

- Every third visitor is included.
- Their data is scaled to represent all visitors.

Because sampling is **visitor-based**, all visits from a visitor are either fully included or excluded. This ensures that visitor journeys stay consistent.

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### What does this mean for metrics?

Sampling ensures that the **total number of visitors** remains consistent over time, whether you work with raw or sampled data.

For other metrics – such as visits, page impressions, orders, or segmented visitor counts (e.g., visitors per campaign or per page) – results are scaled from the sample. With large datasets, this produces highly reliable numbers. In smaller datasets or rare cases, however, differences can become noticeable.

In short: the broader the dataset, the more accurate the sampled results. For very detailed or segment-based analyses, raw data provides the highest precision.

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### Can I change the sampling settings?

Sampling settings are defined when your account is set up. **You cannot change them on the fly.** Adjustments are only possible through Mapp, for example if you want to extend raw data availability as part of a new agreement.