Session: Solving Business Problems with Geospatial Analytics and Data Visualization
Digital transformation across all industries has enabled AI and machine learning to mature at light speed, resulting in an influx of readily available data. One category of data that has been made increasingly valuable for business through these advances is geospatial data due to the integration of digital and physical worlds. However, this increase in data is only valuable if we know how to analyze it. That’s where data visualization comes in.
AI and automation work hand in hand with data visualization to enable businesses to ingest and analyze essential data. In recent years, geospatial data has evolved from data about our lands and lakes to valuable insights about the movement of people and our interactions with the built environment. Through this evolution, geospatial data visualization has become an art form that not only helps businesses make use of geospatial data, but democratizes it for individuals of all backgrounds and expertise. In this talk, I will use geospatial data to explain how business can use data visualization to surface insights, and ultimately, make more informed decisions including identifying the best place to open a new location, understanding where ideal customers visit most frequently and how the cityscape affects a consumer’s daily journey.
I will demo Foursquare Studio to display real-time location insights in minutes, showcasing the value of geospatial data and the depth of insights data analytics and visualization are able to derive in today’s fast-paced, ever changing business environment. Attendees will leave with a better understanding of how to unlock the power of geospatial data and a new perspective on the relationship between human presence and the built environment.
Bio
Shan He is Senior Director of Engineering at Foursquare. Shan co-founded and served as chief product officer at Unfolded, now known as Foursquare Studio. She is a coder, a designer, and a data artist. Shan was the founding member of Uber's data visualization team and creator of kepler.gl - an advanced geospatial visualization tool open-sourced by Uber's visualization team. kepler.gl is the Gold winner of Kantar Information is Beautiful Award and nominated for Breakthrough of the Year of the JavaScript Open Source Awards in 2018. Shan studied at MIT and received a Master in Design Computation while conducting research at the MIT Senseable City Lab. She holds a Master in Architecture from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor in Architecture from Tsinghua University in China.