VT Census Case Studies : RS Metrics

Created and last modified by molfe on 09 Aug 2015

Brief Overall Description of the Dataset:

RS Metrics provides investor and corporate clients with proprietary insights and data based on quantitative analysis of satellite and aerial imagery, overlaid with other open source information such as store locations, demographics and climate data. The company also provides data for other industry sectors, such as distribution, transportation, shipping, mining, and energy, as well as macroeconomic indicators, such as GDP and employment. RS Metrics partnerships with leading satellite imagery companies provide us with global coverage, cutting edge technical capabilities, and access to 5+ years of imagery archives for historical analysis. RS Metrics provides data that can be used alone or with other data sources to measure and track activity, change, and progress in regional or local economies and markets.

Company was contact and an information/POW document was sent

For each Census Tract,the following progress and activity at individual development cab be provided in a shapefile-based dataset with the following attributes: Type of development (housing or apartment),  Number and type of housing (single family, townhouse), Stage of construction (grading, foundations, building construction, completed), Estimated number of bedrooms or apartments, Presence of cars on roads, driveways, parking lots, Image date and time, lat/long coordinates, zip codes, Census Tract number.

This document was for data from 2010-2015 (for lower price can ask for 2010-2014).

Link: https://www.rsmetrics.com/

Date Inventory Completed: 6/9/2015

Screening

  • Is the data collected opinion-based (e.g., people’s attitudes, preferences, etc.)?
  • Is the data collection recurring (must be collected at least annually)?
  • Is there data available for 2013?
  • Is the data collected at the property or housing unit level?
  • Can we access the data by August 15th?

Purpose

  • What is the purpose of the organization collecting the data?

RS Metrics provides insights and data using proprietary models based on quantitative analysis of satellite imagery, store location, and climate data.

  • Why is it collected and how does the organization use it?

Analyzes satellite images of thousands of retail and industrial locations each week and use our proprietary methodology and statistical models to produce valuable metrics for historical analysis and ongoing measurement and monitoring.

  • Who else uses the data?

Businesses, investors, policy makers, researchers

  • Who do they sell the data to?

“Corporate, investor, and government clients”

 

Method

  • What is the data collection method? 

Remote imaging

  • What is the type of data collected? 

Digital

  • If designed, who created the questions?

  • What is the raw source of the collected data (prior to any aggregation)? 

Satellite imaging (from about 10 different satellite – company collects imaging from satellite companies from around the world)


Description

  • What is the general topic of the data (1-2 words)?

Economic market conditions and growth

  • What are the earliest and latest dates for which data is available?

2002-present

  • Is data collected and available periodically?

Yes

  • How soon after a reference period ends can a data source be prepared and provided? 

About a month

 

Selectivity

  • What is the universe (e.g., population) that the data represents?

Areas on earth where satellite travel's over (for future project, can tell satellite to go over certain areas).


Accessibility

  • How is the data accessed? 

CSV file or Shapefile

  • Is it open data?

No

  • Any legal, regulatory, or administrative restrictions on accessing the data source?

  • Cost? - One time or annual or project based payment?

Varies. (Estimated cost of two counties over 5 years is $25k-$35... might go lower after removing extra year)

Does this dataset appear to meet our needs for the Census study? Maybe

Full Inventory

Description

  • Features
    • What is the temporal nature of the data: longitudinal, time-series, or one time point?

Longitudinal

    • Geospatial? If Yes, at what level?

Longitude/Latitude and street address

 

Metadata

  • Is there information available to assess the transparency and soundness of the methods to gather the data for our purposes?=

No (discussed over phone: # of homes, new construction, people moving)

  • Is there a description of each variable in the source along with their valid values?

No

  • Are there unique IDs for unique elements that can be used for linking data?

Home address/coordinates

  • Is there a data dictionary or codebook?

No

 

Selectivity

  • What unit is represented at the record level of the data source? 

Property. (can be aggregated up to census tract)

  • Does this universe match the stated intentions for the data collection? If not, what has been included or excluded and why?

Uknown

  • What is the sampling technique used (if applicable)? 

N/A

  • What was the coverage?

County wide and places that are visible from above)

 

Stability/Coherence

  • Were there any changes to the universe of data being captured (including geographical areas covered) and if so what were they?

Unknown

  • Were there any changes in the data capture method and if so what were they?

Unknown

  • Were there any changes in the sources of data and if so what were they? 

Unknown

 

Accuracy

  • Any known sources of error?

Unknown

  • Describe any quality control checks performed by the data’s owner.

(stated that data goes through a cleaning and validation phase with "human eyes" as most of the original coding is done via computing)


Accessibility

  • Any records or fields collected, but not included in data source, such as for confidentiality reasons)? 

Not stated

  • Is there a subset of variables and/or data that is must be obtained through a separate process?

None stated

    • If yes, is there a separate legal, regulatory, or administrative restrictions on accessing the data source?  

    • Cost? - One time or annual or project based payment? 


Privacy and security

  • Was consent given by participant? If so, how was consent given?

None stated

  • Are there legal limitations or restrictions on the use of the data? 
  • What confidentiality policies does the source have? 

Research

  • What research has been done with this dataset?

Retail marketing, urban development, census retail

  • Include any links to research if provided:

https://www.rsmetrics.com/about-us/what-we-do/

  • List any other data use notes provided by the supplier.