ENIn the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the development of quantitative and applied geography is an important issue for geographers and society as a whole. Usage of databases and positioning tools in a daily life creates opportunities for science, business and public administration. This paper reviews the best practices of high resolution socio-economic data usage. The historical review is grounded on 3 aspects of data: spatiality, diversity and temporality. A framework for the development of applied geography, based on triple helix concept and open source tools, was defined.