Our Data

Unacast works with partners to gather raw GPS data, from +130M smartphones and mobile apps.

We use GPS location data because it is the most reliable. It works by sending signals, or “pings,” from your mobile device to a constellation of satellites. GPS uses triangulation to determine where on the planet your device is, and describes that position using latitude and longitude. Each ping from a device also has a timestamp.

The raw pings are clustered by our algorithms into events that indicate activity, such as dwelling at a location, or traveling and assigning retail venues and brands.

An array of latitudes and longitudes are of no use. That ́s why Unacast's data engine translates the raw data feed into something we can understand by adding context. In addition we assign events to census block group (CBG). While this is not the finest-grain map out there, we want to make sure that private information, such as people’s homes, are obfuscated and not discernible to an address. We can add CBGs together to measure neighborhoods, cities, counties, states, and even the entire country.

We have datasets depending on your data maturity and needs: Foot Traffic, Dynamic Trade Areas, and Cross Visitation.

It’s tempting to think that once you add some context to the GPS pings on maps you’re done. There are literally an uncountable number of ways to make these datasets say different things, some of which are esoteric, and others that are downright conflicting. This is where the team of data scientists and business strategists at Unacast helps you “ask” the data just the right questions.