A Christmas Datastory
A Christmas Datastory
It’s hard to dispute that Santa has long been a leader in location intelligence, delivering billions of gifts across the globe in a single night. But as world population swells and the demand for on-time delivery continues to rise, his challenge is daunting. This year, Santa has again turned to the most magical technology on the planet...
To fully grasp his daunting task, consider this global map of world population.
Engaging the Datastory Team
Santa learned from his Senior Elf for Distribution that one of his delivery partners, Amazon, had recently leveraged a Datastory solution to inform their decision about HQ2.
So, he reached out to our team with the biggest, boldest request we'd ever been asked. And we accepted his challenge.
The Data
The Data
POPULATION
To predict the demand for gifts, this map of County Population helps Santa get a basic lay of the land, as it relates to how many families he'll need to visit.
FIREPLACES
Because there is a certain efficiency to sliding down a chimney (his preferred method of entry), this map helps Santa locate households with fireplaces.
COOKIES
Santa loves cookies (as does the Datastory team). So we thought it was important to show him where to expect those tasty little Christmas offerings.
MILK
Eating all those cookies makes Santa thirsty. This map of consumer behavior helps him plan where he'll find the most milk to wash down those cookies.
REINDEER FOOD
We can't forget the reindeer. This map of land cover helps Santa identify grassy areas to keep his team well fueled for the night.
The Analytics
The Analytics
OPTIMIZATION
To maximize Santa's efficiency on Christmas Eve, our analysts modeled fly-times vis-a-vis population statistics to identify which areas had the greatest access to the most number of people.
We can't tell you all of Santa's secrets (we're under an NDA), but think of his task as the ultimate fulfillment challenge.
He needs to deliver a lot of packages in the fastest amount of time. And if he could establish distribution points that maximize access to everyone on the nice list, his elves could stage the gifts in just the right places, helping Santa complete the job in time.
Theoretically speaking of course...
Real-Time Operations
Real-Time Operations
IN-FLIGHT ACCESS TO DATA
During flight, Santa will not only have access to great data and analytics, but he'll also have a feed to real-time data to aid his navigation. To familiarize him to the landscape, we've chosen this Christmas-themed base map, created by Cindy Prostak at Esri.
(Zoom in to explore the map)
NO FLY ZONES
(SPECIAL PERMISSION FOR SANTA)
Areas in RED on this map show National Security UAS Flight Restrictions where Santa might want to double-check permission to enter.
SNOWFALL
This real-time feed from the National Weather Service gives Santa a heads-up on snowfall amounts in each community.
WEATHER WATCHES & WARNINGS
Vulnerable to extreme weather, Santa's real-time dashboard helps him keep a pulse on hazardous weather conditions.
FLIGHT TRACKER
Though a skilled navigator, Santa prefers to keep a pulse on where other flights are located.
(Click "Explore" below to click on a plane for more info)
Christmas M.A.G.I.C.
Christmas M.A.G.I.C.
The end result?
Together with Santa, we created some Christmas M.A.G.I.C.
That's short for
Mapping Analysis Geographically Integrated for Children.
And Santa remains the world leader in location intelligence.
From the Datastory family to yours,
we wish you Seasons Greetings,
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
The datasets used in this Datastory are real. Believe.
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Envisioned byLeif Johnson, Datastory
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Embellished byThe Datastory Team
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Learn More
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Data SourcesDatastory, Esri, FAA, NWS, USGS
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