  Measuring the geographical distribution of economic activity plays a key role
in scientific research and policymaking. However, previous studies and data on
economic activity either have a coarse spatial resolution or cover a limited
time span, and the high-resolution characteristics of socioeconomic dynamics
are largely unknown. Here, we construct a dataset on the economic activity of
mainland China, the gridded establishment dataset (GED), which measures the
volume of establishments at a 0.01$^{\circ}$ latitude by 0.01$^{\circ}$
longitude scale. Specifically, our dataset captures the geographically based
opening and closing of approximately 25.5 million firms that registered in
mainland China over the period 2005-2015. The characteristics of fine
granularity and long-term observability give the GED a high application value.
The dataset not only allows us to quantify the spatiotemporal patterns of the
establishments, urban vibrancy and socioeconomic activity, but also helps us
uncover the fundamental principles underlying the dynamics of industrial and
economic development.
