(The WhereNext Confidential series features questions and answers from industry insiders—location analysts, business executives, data scientists, GIS managers. Here in GIS Life, we invite you to add your thoughts and answers.)
Question: I work at a Fortune 500 company, and the data scientists I'd like to collaborate with brush off the idea of using location analysis. Some haven't heard of GIS technology. How can I inspire them to collaborate?
Our confidential expert: A data scientist and GIS professional at one of the best-known food delivery companies in the world (a leader in using tech to grow the business) and a member of the analytics and insights team, composed of data scientists, some of whom specialize in location analysis
Answer: If I were talking with a data scientist colleague, there are two things I would mention: GIS technology gives you a novel way to present findings, and location data gives you a whole new breadth of variables to use in your analyses.
On the first point, one of the hardest things is trying to explain a chart—one you've looked at for hours—to someone who's seeing it for the first time and has 20 seconds to digest it. You don't have that problem with a map. . . .
Second, beyond data visualization, geographic relationships can be really powerful explanatory variables in your models.
To read the rest of the answer, visit the original article on WhereNext.
