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Nov 13, 2019 · 24m · mad

The Power of Location Data // Thomas Walle, Unacast (FirstMark's Data Driven NYC)

Thomas Walle · 18m spoken Matt Turck · 1m spoken
0:00 / 0:00
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

At a Data Driven NYC event hosted by FirstMark, Unacast CEO Thomas Walle explains how human mobility data quantifies physical world behavior. He covers Unacast's technical pipeline, privacy frameworks, and commercial and civic applications across retail, real estate, urban planning, and emergency management.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Matt holds 4.7% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Matt as informed peer 1.2 Guest teaching 5.4 Guest disagreement 0.2 Matt pushing back 1.0
05100:0010:0020:000:54–3:47 · Matt as informed peer 0/10 Unacast Overview and The Real-World Graph Thomas Walle presents a solo overview of Unacast, introducing human mobility data and the real-world graph. The host does not participate in this presentation segment.3:47–6:48 · Matt as informed peer 0/10 Technical Challenges: GPS Inaccuracy and Data Pipeline Thomas explains the technical intricacies of GPS inaccuracy and outlines Unacast's three-step processing pipeline. The host is absent from this monologue segment.6:48–9:35 · Matt as informed peer 0/10 Addressing Data Privacy and Ethical Considerations Thomas details data privacy compliance under GDPR and CCPA alongside ethical boundaries regarding data usage. This is a monologue segment without host interaction.9:35–12:50 · Matt as informed peer 0/10 Retail Analytics and Competitive Intelligence Thomas presents commercial applications of location intelligence in retail, trade area analysis, and real estate. The host does not intervene during this monologue.12:50–24:27 · Matt as informed peer 6/10 Urban Planning and the City Vitality Index Matt Turck joins for Q&A, pressing Thomas on market readiness, privacy anonymization mechanics, data point valuation, and handling inference inaccuracy.0:54–3:47 · Guest teaching 5/10 Unacast Overview and The Real-World Graph Thomas Walle presents a solo overview of Unacast, introducing human mobility data and the real-world graph. The host does not participate in this presentation segment.3:47–6:48 · Guest teaching 6/10 Technical Challenges: GPS Inaccuracy and Data Pipeline Thomas explains the technical intricacies of GPS inaccuracy and outlines Unacast's three-step processing pipeline. The host is absent from this monologue segment.6:48–9:35 · Guest teaching 6/10 Addressing Data Privacy and Ethical Considerations Thomas details data privacy compliance under GDPR and CCPA alongside ethical boundaries regarding data usage. This is a monologue segment without host interaction.9:35–12:50 · Guest teaching 5/10 Retail Analytics and Competitive Intelligence Thomas presents commercial applications of location intelligence in retail, trade area analysis, and real estate. The host does not intervene during this monologue.12:50–24:27 · Guest teaching 5/10 Urban Planning and the City Vitality Index Matt Turck joins for Q&A, pressing Thomas on market readiness, privacy anonymization mechanics, data point valuation, and handling inference inaccuracy.0:54–3:47 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Unacast Overview and The Real-World Graph Thomas Walle presents a solo overview of Unacast, introducing human mobility data and the real-world graph. The host does not participate in this presentation segment.3:47–6:48 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Technical Challenges: GPS Inaccuracy and Data Pipeline Thomas explains the technical intricacies of GPS inaccuracy and outlines Unacast's three-step processing pipeline. The host is absent from this monologue segment.6:48–9:35 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Addressing Data Privacy and Ethical Considerations Thomas details data privacy compliance under GDPR and CCPA alongside ethical boundaries regarding data usage. This is a monologue segment without host interaction.9:35–12:50 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Retail Analytics and Competitive Intelligence Thomas presents commercial applications of location intelligence in retail, trade area analysis, and real estate. The host does not intervene during this monologue.12:50–24:27 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Urban Planning and the City Vitality Index Matt Turck joins for Q&A, pressing Thomas on market readiness, privacy anonymization mechanics, data point valuation, and handling inference inaccuracy.0:54–3:47 · Matt pushing back 0/10 Unacast Overview and The Real-World Graph Thomas Walle presents a solo overview of Unacast, introducing human mobility data and the real-world graph. The host does not participate in this presentation segment.3:47–6:48 · Matt pushing back 0/10 Technical Challenges: GPS Inaccuracy and Data Pipeline Thomas explains the technical intricacies of GPS inaccuracy and outlines Unacast's three-step processing pipeline. The host is absent from this monologue segment.6:48–9:35 · Matt pushing back 0/10 Addressing Data Privacy and Ethical Considerations Thomas details data privacy compliance under GDPR and CCPA alongside ethical boundaries regarding data usage. This is a monologue segment without host interaction.9:35–12:50 · Matt pushing back 0/10 Retail Analytics and Competitive Intelligence Thomas presents commercial applications of location intelligence in retail, trade area analysis, and real estate. The host does not intervene during this monologue.12:50–24:27 · Matt pushing back 5/10 Urban Planning and the City Vitality Index Matt Turck joins for Q&A, pressing Thomas on market readiness, privacy anonymization mechanics, data point valuation, and handling inference inaccuracy.

speaking balance: gold is Matt, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Matt 0% · guest 100%0:00 · Matt 0% · guest 100%3:00 · Matt 0% · guest 100%3:00 · Matt 0% · guest 100%6:00 · Matt 0% · guest 100%6:00 · Matt 0% · guest 100%9:00 · Matt 0% · guest 100%9:00 · Matt 0% · guest 100%12:00 · Matt 0% · guest 100%12:00 · Matt 0% · guest 100%15:00 · Matt 30% · guest 70%15:00 · Matt 30% · guest 70%18:00 · Matt 7.7% · guest 92.3%18:00 · Matt 7.7% · guest 92.3%21:00 · Matt 0.9% · guest 99.1%21:00 · Matt 0.9% · guest 99.1%24:00 · Matt 5.2% · guest 94.8%24:00 · Matt 5.2% · guest 94.8%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 17:19 Reframing aggregate tracking vs individual surveillance

Thomas addresses audience skepticism regarding location tracking by firmly distinguishing Unacast's aggregate mobility focus from invasive adtech profiling.

 Hardest push from Matt ▶ 22:03 Pushing on data inference inaccuracy and validation

Matt challenges Thomas on how Unacast handles uncertain location inferences and demands to know how they validate accuracy for commercial buyers.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 21:30 Pricing raw location data per CPM

Thomas educates the host on the precise market valuation of raw location data points, detailing CPM pricing dynamics based on data quality.

 Matt holds his own ▶ 20:29 Drilling on compliance anonymization and data unit economics

Matt demonstrates sharp host expertise by questioning specific compliance anonymization mechanics and demanding unit economic valuations on 100k data points.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicMatt as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementMatt pushing backWhy
Unacast Overview and The Real-World Graph 0500 Thomas Walle presents a solo overview of Unacast, introducing human mobility data and the real-world graph. The host does not participate in this presentation segment.
Technical Challenges: GPS Inaccuracy and Data Pipeline 0600 Thomas explains the technical intricacies of GPS inaccuracy and outlines Unacast's three-step processing pipeline. The host is absent from this monologue segment.
Addressing Data Privacy and Ethical Considerations 0600 Thomas details data privacy compliance under GDPR and CCPA alongside ethical boundaries regarding data usage. This is a monologue segment without host interaction.
Retail Analytics and Competitive Intelligence 0500 Thomas presents commercial applications of location intelligence in retail, trade area analysis, and real estate. The host does not intervene during this monologue.
Urban Planning and the City Vitality Index 6515 Matt Turck joins for Q&A, pressing Thomas on market readiness, privacy anonymization mechanics, data point valuation, and handling inference inaccuracy.

Statements from this episode (12)

Disclosure
Unacast has raised $30 million with engineering team in Oslo
“Roughly 40 people in Norway and Oslo, so our engineering and data scientist team is based out of Oslo, and we raised thirty million to date”
Thomas Walle Nov 13, 2019 ▶ 1:12
Disclosure
Thomas Walle was part of Tidal founding team before Jay-Z acquisition
“Prior to Unicast, I was a part of the founding team at Tidal, which you might be familiar with. It was acquired by Jay-Z, the rapper. So the company wasn't started in the U.S. It was started out of Norway, next to Spotify.”
Thomas Walle Nov 13, 2019 ▶ 2:00
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Walle: Mobile location data is highly inaccurate compared to CRM data
“So it's a very inaccurate location data, data set in comparison to other data sets that, that we are used with like online data, CRM data, transaction data, which actually tells a very, very precise story.”
Thomas Walle Nov 13, 2019 ▶ 4:47
Disclosure
Walle: Unacast entered Europe during GDPR rollout while others fled
“We went into Europe when everybody fled Europe because we wanted to be GDPR compliant, and we have figured out a way to maneuver that space.”
Thomas Walle Nov 13, 2019 ▶ 8:25
Disclosure
Walle: Unacast rejects location data requests for political campaigns
“And we have, ah, we have kind of a lot of cases that we don't do. For instance, political campaigns.”
Thomas Walle Nov 13, 2019 ▶ 9:10
Assertion Supported
Walle notes 9,000 U.S. retail stores closed in 2019, a record high
“9000 stores have been closed in the U.S. As of today, it's the highest number ever”
Thomas Walle Nov 13, 2019 ▶ 9:54
Opinion
Walle: Real estate investors spend very little time analyzing property data
“Like real estate investors, they spend very little time, ah, really digging into, should I invest in this property or that property?”
Thomas Walle Nov 13, 2019 ▶ 11:20
Assertion Contradicted
Walle: Unacast location data is used during California wildfires to track evacuations
“Our data is being used to understand are people like trapped inside certain places because we can deliver data pretty real in real time, but also when people evacuate.”
Thomas Walle Nov 13, 2019 ▶ 13:52
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Walle: No current location tech can accurately scale vertical floor tracking
“We can't. No, it's, there's no technology today that's sufficiently accurate and scalable to understand yeah, what floors you are in certain buildings.”
Thomas Walle Nov 13, 2019 ▶ 18:58
Disclosure
Walle: Unacast's anonymized dataset covers roughly 10% of the US population
“So we spent like four years in building up a data set to, yeah, roughly 10% of the U.S. Population, so it's an anonymized data set, and that's the basis of all the insights that we can build.”
Thomas Walle Nov 13, 2019 ▶ 20:09
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Walle: Location data for 100,000 users costs $400 to $500
“I would say there's like the market for buying that kind of data today is for a 100,000 four or 500 dollars. Yeah. So you usually kind of acquire that, that data on a CPM level. So you kind of buy, you pay four or five dollars, sometimes two dollars, sometimes…”
Thomas Walle Nov 13, 2019 ▶ 21:36
Insight
Walle: Location data is not mature enough to predict corporate quarterly earnings
“So to put it this way, we, I don't think we are ready yet or anyone are ready yet to sell to hedge, hedge funds that want to use this data to predict quarterly earnings for stock listed companies. But if you want to understand retail analytics and real estate,…”
Thomas Walle Nov 13, 2019 ▶ 24:01
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