Friday’s Food for Thought: Location Data

Businesses are increasingly relying on mapping and location data to make decisions according to several news outlets.

A recent CNN article featured online mapping firm CartoDB, which uses its platform to help businesses understand trends and patterns in their data sets and improve marketing. Having recently raised $23 million in additional funding, CartoDB will soon expand its partnerships even further. Organizations such as Amtrak, Deloitte, Google, Twitter, Uber, and Airbnb—all of which rely on location data—are just a few already using CartoDB. Uber, for example, utilized CartoDB’s mapping platform to map day vs. night rides in New York City in order to determine what areas of the city are hotspots during which time of the day.

Maps not only help visualize certain patterns, but also help to drive positive change around the world, reports National Geographic. Areas such as conservation, public health, and humanitarian and disaster relief have seen overwhelming positive effects resulting from the rise of mapping and crowdsourcing. Some such initiatives include mapping illegal fishing, mapping the spread of Ebola, and volunteer mapping in response to the Nepal earthquake.

Photo Credit: CartoDB