We’re so excited to announce the launch of our second online course about geospatial data in R. Sign up here. When you hear “geospatial data”, what comes to your mind? For many people, it’s ordinary maps. These are an important output of geospatial data, but it can actually be used for so much more. Geospatial data is at the heart…
Landsat is without a doubt one of the best sources of free satellite data today. Managed by NASA and the United States Geological Survey, the Landsat satellites have been capturing multi-spectral imagery for over 40 years. The latest satellite, Landsat 8, orbits the Earth every 16 days and captures more than 700 satellite images per day across 9 spectral bands…
Unleashing the power of alternative data to transform India’s battle against malaria Too many malaria cases, too little data Today, India is fighting one of its toughest battles against malaria. With a malaria prevalence rate 1.5 times greater than that of Southeast Asia, India accounts for over 67% of malaria cases in the region. What’s even more worrying, however, is that this…
The alternative data revolution isn’t about what alternative data to use. It’s about how to turn it into actionable insights. Road data for Pune, India, color-coded to show which roads are well-lit at night. (Source: Atlan.) If there is one thing every business in the world wants, it is market intelligence. By offering an untapped source of market intelligence, alternative…
If you’re making decisions based just on internal data, you’re already behind the curve. The sudden decline of Blackberry came as a shock to the world. A year before its revenue dropped by nearly half, tech-giant Blackberry recorded the highest number of smartphone sales in its history. In fact, in the same five-year period that the company’s share prices plummeted from…
Today hedge funds use alternative data to shape their investments. Why can’t organizations use it to shape their own future? In the fall of 2015, Chipotle (an American food chain famous for its massive burritos) was rocked by a series of health scares. From August to December, norovirus and salmonella broke out in 19 locations across California, Massachusetts and Minnesota. The…
In the 2002 movie Minority Report, the main character walks past a bank of billboards, which scan his retina, assess his state of mind, and immediately call out relevant ads just for him. For example, while he’s on the run, an American Express billboard says to him, “It looks like you need an escape, and Blue can take you there.”…