Maintaining Quality Places Data: Building a Digital Source of Truth for the Physical World

The world is dynamically changing and so are businesses. By some estimates, 20% of new businesses close within one year of opening. In 2020, 40% of small businesses in Canada closed voluntarily (not due to a government mandate). In the US, even before the pandemic accelerated business closures, the Small Business Administration reported in 2018 that since 1990, about 7-9% of all businesses (not just new ones) close each year. At the same time, the number of new business applications has continued to increase year over year, adding more complexity to staying on top of what businesses are in operation and where. So with all of these changes, how can data scientists accurately model the real world to keep analyses fresh? Many POI datasets are only updated annually or quarterly, creating stale data inputs for models and forecasts.

SafeGraph is a geospatial data company that curates high-precision data on millions of places around the globe. Our datasets provided detailed, accurate, and up-to-date information on points of interest (POIs) and how people interact with those locations. SafeGraph’s mission is to democratize access to this high-quality data. We believe data should not be hoarded by a few organizations, and instead should be open to power analytics and decision-making for anyone who needs it. We’re helping data scientists unlock innovation with the world’s most accurate dataset about physical places, updated monthly to reflect a dynamically changing world.

Join product manager Michael Taylor as he dives into the importance of accuracy, precision, and freshness in POI data for geospatial analysis. He’ll cover maintaining a high-quality POI database, how to uncover unique insights using up-to-date geospatial information, and explore other datasets related to places that can provide insights into consumer behavior, urban planning, and more.