Skyhook Chooses OmniSci to Support Mobility Indexing in Next Phase of COVID-19 Response

Skyhook operates the world’s largest independent location network consisting of 5.1 billion geolocated Wi-Fi hotspots, 200 million cell towers and a global portfolio of actionable venues. By aggregating data that is generated by this network together with other data sources and then analyzing it through the OmniSci platform, Skyhook creates mobility indexes that anonymously measure itinerancy (how much devices move around) and endemism (how local a population remains). These measures are critical factors in determining how effective policies are at keeping people distant, and therefore how quickly parts of the country can reopen.

From the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, Skyhook’s solution has been used to show how well stay-at-home orders were—or were not—working. Its ability to query, filter and render billions of rows of data in milliseconds, thanks to OmniSci’s parallel processing capabilities, permit global-to-local data analysis at local resolutions and data densities that are far higher than other platforms.  This provides insight into this next critical phase of the public health response.

“The models we build require the ability to analyze entire, very large datasets. We can’t afford to miss the needle because the haystack was downsampled or aggregated,” said Rich Sutton, head of Skyhook’s Geo team. “Only OmniSci has the capability to interrogate these massive datasets at the speed and scale our customers require.”

OmniSci, the world’s fastest analytics platform, uniquely harnesses the massive parallel processing capabilities of modern GPU and CPU hardware. Comprised of a lightning-fast SQL engine, rendering engine and interactive visualization system, OmniSci allows data scientists and data analysts to combine, filter and plot data into interactive maps, answering complex questions at the speed of curiosity.

Skyhook’s location insights are leveraged by a variety of customers, providing the keys to unlocking in-depth understanding of consumers’ behaviors and preferences. OmniSci’s accelerated analytics allow customers to monitor venue performance, analyze foot traffic patterns, learn about customer offline behavior and visualize data in a myriad of ways.

“OmniSci is the platform that eliminates compromise,” noted David Bairstow, Skyhook Director of Product. “It combines speed, scale and visualization in one easy-to-use package, and has streamlined development and deployment for our engineering team. As our primary analytics tool, OmniSci is critical for easing our customers into complex datasets, so they can see enormous business value from the insights.”

“The next phase of the COVID-19 response is going to require business leaders and policy makers to have more data, more readily available, than ever before,” said Joe Lee, OmniSci’s Vice President of Global Sales. “We’re proud to partner with Skyhook in this effort, to help all of their customers make better use of data for quicker insights and better decision making.”

About Skyhook

Skyhook is the worldwide independent leader in location technology, operating the world’s largest independent location network, consisting of 5.1 billion geolocated Wi-Fi hotspots and 200 million cell towers, and 20 million actionable venues. Skyhook processes tens of billions of location transactions, serving devices, apps, wearables, media, brands and advertising platforms with precise and accurate location data and intelligence. Skyhook, through its parent company Skyhook Holding, Inc., operates a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Broadband Corporation. To learn more about Skyhook, please visit www.skyhook.com.

Source: OmniSci