SomeBODY…
<narrator>Great now everyone has Smashmouth in their head
…asked me a grouping of questions via the electronic mails. I liked the questions, so I’m putting the questions and my babbling answers here, for the world to see, yeah.
How much is geo used in Data Science right now?
A great deal, but like anything it depends on the client’s needs. But the libraries in both R and Python can do most anything that a desktop can do these days. So there is more integration than there was before. Also, with Tableau and other BI type software integrating maps into their dashboards, there is more of a call for spatial analysis outside of classic desktop applications.
Where’s our strength and what can we add as geo specialists?
The strengths that geo people bring are really 4 fold. First, an understanding of Analytics, its just applying them not just to spatial data, but to tabular as well. Second, knowledge of scripting and how to leverage computer scripts to bring together a whole project, its just no longer a map, there are more part. But the basic ideas and concepts are huge leaps. Third, visualization and how to present data in an easily readable format. Again, out side the map. Fourth, curiosity. Most geopeople I know are intellectually curious and want to try new things and that’s really the basis for any of this stuff.
What are the tools to know?
Where to start? Unless you’re dealing with millions/billions of rows of data to be analyzed and visualized GeoMesa is likely overkill. I’d start with a database that has spatial functions. I’m not sure of your stack but Postgres, SQL Server and Oracle all have Spatial Functions. Since this puts all the data into a neutral format, you can generate tabular and spatial analysis, and transformations from a query. I’ve found the first real push is getting someone who normally gets quick visual feedback (a map) to trust a command line or sql statement to generate the same results. So once they trust that, that mental hurdle is normally crossed. At least that was the real catalyst for me.
In other news, I’ll be teaching an Intro to Remote Sensing and GIS and Precision Agriculture classes in the spring with Northeastern University, online.
So, if your interested in me pushing you to slay your sacred geo-cows in GIS, you have until February 27th to enroll here , or you can just AMA on twitter.
…once told me the world was going to roll me, I ain’t the sharpest tool in the shed.
