Good data will get you about 80% of the way there.
The last 20% will require understanding and context that data CANNOT give you.
But good data can get you that 80% in seconds, whereas previously it took a lot of time.
What we can quantify, we should, so that the benefits will compound and accrue.
That should be the first step for many things.
But there are three mistakes that can happen from here.
1) It would be a mistake to think that data can get you 100% of the way there. Some things are not well served by data and computation. The last 20% can famously take just as much time as the initial 80%, if not more.
2) Similarly, it would be a mistake to think that good data can't get you that initial 80%. There are things that CAN be quantified (and processed quickly by computer) and things that CANNOT; it is an error to think that nothing can be quantified.
3) Thinking that good data is easy is a mistake. The whole branch of data science is not that old, and there are many more things in this world that have not yet been structured into good data than there are things that have been. Getting 80% of the way there is not easy, so figuring out what 80% means (value) and how much is required to achieve it (cost) is the whole business part.
We are still in a period where good data can be hard and expensive to acquire. This is a large part of the debate around AI.
What UrbanForm does is get you 80% of the way there with zoning.
The remaining 20% is for the professionals who work on the built environment. That does not change.
What does change is how some of their time is spent.
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