Such information is highly sought by stock market traders. This story led to an uproar about the customer information being used in ways not authorized. There is also a concern in some circles about the legality of developing such advanced predictions about a particular commodity or company. Although such concerns will eventually be resolved by policy makers, what is clear is that new and interesting ways of combining satellite data and many other data sources are spawning a new crop of analytics companies. All of these organizations are working with data that meets the three V’s—variety, volume, and velocity characterizations. Some of these companies also work with another category of data— sensors. We will discuss those in the next chapter when we review emerging trends in analytics. But this group of companies certainly also falls under a group of innovative and emerging applications. Sources: Dillow, C. (2016). What happens when you combine artificial intelligence and satellite imagery. fortune.com/2016/03/30/ facebook-ai-satellite-imagery/ (accessed July 2016). Ekster, G. (2015). Driving investment performance with alternative data. integrity-research.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/ Driving-Investment-Performance-With-Alternative-Data.pdf (accessed July 2016). Hope, B. (2015). Provider of personal finance tools tracks bank cards, sells data to investors. wsj.com/articles/providerof-personal-finance-tools-tracks-bank-cards-sells-data-to-investors-1438914620 (accessed July 2016). Orbital Insight. World Oil Storage Index. orbitalinsight.com/solutions/world-oil-storage-index/ (accessed July 2016). Shaw, C. (2016). Satellite companies moving markets. quandl.com/ blog/alternative-data-satellite-companies (accessed July 2016). Steiner, C. (2009). Sky high tips for crop traders. http://www.forbes .com/forbes/2009/0907/technology-software-satellites-sky-high-tipsfor-crop-traders.html (accessed July 2016). Turner, M. (2015). This is the future of investing, and you probably can’t afford it. businessinsider.com/hedge-funds-are-analysing-data-to-get-an-edge-2015-8 (accessed July 2016).
Questions for Discussion
1. What is a common thread in the examples discussed in this application case?
2. Can you think of other data streams that might help give an early indication of sales at a retailer?
3. Can you think of other applications along the lines presented in this application case?
