Taking advantage of and making sense of data is more important than ever for your business. To do this we can use data science to turn raw information into valuable insights. While your first-party data (collected directly by your company) is key, using third-party data is important too. It can help data scientists like us create more accurate models and predictions. Which can then provide opportunities for your business.
In this post, we’ll discuss what third-party data is, how it boosts your insights, and ways data scientists can leverage UK government data alongside industry platforms like Kaggle.
What is Third-Party Data within Data Science?
Third-party data is information collected by external sources, not directly connected to your customers. It’s often gathered from various places and made available for public use or purchase. Third-party data can expand your datasets, offering richer insights.
Common types of third-party data include information like demographic data (age, income, job roles, and household details), geospatial data (location-based data for mapping, logistics, and planning), or behavioural data (data on customer habits, preferences, and online activity).
How Third-Party Data Enhances Data Science Efforts
First-party data can be limited, especially when you are using it for machine learning or other types of artificial intelligence. By incorporating third-party data you can provide a more complete picture, and therefore get better results. An example with this would be forecasting sales in your retail shop, which happens to be in a retail park not a town centre. Incorporating weather data might help you make sense of sales spikes on rainy days as customers haven’t wanted to walk into a city centre. So with additional data points, predictions become more accurate, particularly in areas like we’ve given a example of, customer analytics. Additionally, third-party providers offer access to data types that may not be available internally, such as national economic figures, enriching the overall analysis.
Sourcing Third-Party Data Examples: UK Government Data and Kaggle
Reliable third-party data is crucial for decision-making. The UK government and global industry platforms like Kaggle are excellent examples of sources. We’ll provide some examples from these two sources below, but most governments around the globe will provide similar examples, right down to your local council, which will also publish data.
UK Government Data
The UK offers loads of free, high-quality data, especially useful in sectors like healthcare, transport, and education. Some key sources include:
- Office for National Statistics (ONS): Provides data on demographics, the economy, employment, and more.
- data.gov.uk: Offers thousands of datasets on everything from education to energy.
- NHS Digital: Shares health-related data, perfect for healthcare analytics.
Kaggle
Kaggle is a go-to platform for data science professionals, especially in the research space. It offers a wide range of datasets from real-world projects, ideal for machine learning and other typesof AI. Some useful and fun examples include:
- UK Housing Prices Dataset: Useful for predicting property trends.
- COVID-19 Open Research Dataset (CORD-19): A collection of medical data for public health analysis.
- Titanic Survival Dataset: A classic dataset for practicing predictive modeling.
Best Practices for Using Third-Party Data in Data Science
To get the most out of third-party data, remember to always check the quality of the data you are planning to use. Is it accurate and reliable?
Don’t forget to follow Privacy Laws too. You need to make sure the data is ethically sourced and complies with regulations, in the UK and EU that would be GDPR for example.
But most importantly, think how can a third-party dataset enrich your data. How are you going to combine it with your internal datasets to build a more complete picture? And then think, how will this complete picture provide me with both better insights for data drive decision-making and also opportunities to exploit machine learning or other types of artificial intelligence for your business.
Learn more about how Objective supports their clients through Data Science.