It’s no secret to anyone that the amount of data produced by humanity is growing exponentially. So much so that even 5 years ago the current statistics would seem somewhat fantastic.

According to a recent Forbes article by Bernard Marr, there are 2.5 quintillion (i.e 2.5 billion billions, if you wish) bytes of data created each day at our current pace. That being said, our pace is nothing but accelerating: over the past two years alone 90 percent of the data in the world was produced. The data market is now estimated to be worth more than 3 trillion dollars.

A gold mine for private companies and other governments, data has become part of the daily lives of individuals. It allows large firms to know more about their desires (Google), their needs and movements (Facebook, Uber) but also to influence their buying behavior or preferences (Amazon, Netflix). Data is thus a direct source of value creation. As the data production rises, the quality of data is still poor. In the US, the annual spending on bad data quality is an estimated 3.1 trillion dollars.

Even as its production increases, data remains difficult to harvest and even harder to verify. It is particularly the case of physical data, which consists of all the visual elements individuals interact with: stores, administrative buildings, cultural centers, roads, sanitary facilities, electrical terminals, traffic signs, vending machines, etc.

These data are used by different players:

Maps or mapping and geolocation services use data to complete, update and enrich their services; Companies seeking to complete their B2B databases for prospecting, listing, mailing, telemarketing, statistics, etc.; Artificial Intelligence services needing access to accurate and updated information to provide autonomous solutions; B2C services Geo-targeting users in order to promote goods and services; Public services and governments for statistical, census and urban landscape development purposes; And more generally, all individuals using physical data to determine their location and interact with the elements of their environment;

A variety of businesses have built their activity and business model around physical data.

Despite its importance, physical data remains difficult to collect and qualify. This is expressed by Brett Hurt, Co-founder of Data.world, in Forbes: “People say that data is the new oil, but the truth is, it’s crude, unrefined and hard to find.”

Such is the case for physical stores. In the US, at least 40% of them have at least one incorrect or missing address listed online, “leading to $10.3 billion worth of lost sales”.

To go deeper in the analysis, it appears that:

· 80% of online listings for top retailers display inconsistent, inaccurate or missing data.

· When it comes to Facebook, 90% of physical data is either inconsistent or missing, and 75% for Google+.

· Only 8% of map pin placements are correct.

Worldwide, the analysis of the different local data providers demonstrates that 70% of the physical stores are not displayed on any map, and 30 to 40% when relating to large cities.

Now, here’s an example: