Author Archive: Justin
Justin Holman is CEO of TerraSeer, where he leads efforts to develop cutting edge sales forecasting and inventory optimization technology for the Automotive Aftermarket. Prior to joining TerraSeer, Justin managed corporate consulting for the Strategy & Analytics division at MapInfo Corporation, leading major projects for retail clients including The Home Depot, Darden Restaurants, Bridgestone-Firestone, Sainsbury’s and New York & Company. Before that, Justin served as Vice President of Software Development at LogicTools, now part of IBM's supply chain application software group. Justin holds a B.A. from Claremont McKenna College, a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon and an Executive Management certificate from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
2013 Geography Graduate Program Rankings
About a year ago I posted a ranking of top geography programs based on the NRC survey of U.S. doctoral programs. There were some complaints about the rankings, which I suppose is inevitable. Some expressed concern simply because their program of choice wasn’t included. But, a more legitimate thread of concern came from those who [...]
Criminals Target Stores with Easy Access to Major Arteries
Here’s a map of the 15 robberies that have occurred in Pueblo over the course of the past 3 weeks. The map would suggest that criminals are targeting store locations with easy access to major transportation arteries including Pueblo Blvd., I-25 and US-50. Data sources: list of robbery locations was found posted on David [...]
Top Posts of 2012
2012 was my first year as a blogger. I learned a ton, met lots of people and had a lot of fun along the way. As I close out the year and prepare to keep things rolling in 2013 I thought it would be a good time to review my top posts for 2012. Here [...]
The Geography of Big Data: How to Get Started
If you’re a business executive you’ve no doubt heard a lot about “Big Data” and the promise of analytics. You may have even read a recent post in the Harvard Business Review about how to Get Started with Big Data. It’s a great article and offers good advice but probably should be retitled: “How to [...]
Miles Driven Forecasting: Not So Fast My Friend
When it comes to forecasting the future I like to think of two quotes from one of the smartest people I’ve ever worked with (the quote may not be precise but hopefully you’ll get the idea). 1. Forecasts are always wrong. 2. Forecasts with longer time horizons are always worse. David Simchi-Levi, brilliant MIT Professor [...]
A New American Geography: Cultural Ecoregions for Consumer Segmentation
I’d like to introduce my first pass at a new American Geography with regional definitions based on common culture, climate and environment rather than political borders. I started this project because I needed a better way to define different American regions so I can help my clients, who supply or distribute goods in the US, [...]
Ending the Civil Cold War: Two Ideas for Moving Past a Partisan Democracy
Like many Americans I’ve been following the Presidential election cycle fairly closely. Also, like many Americans, I find the tone and tenor of current politics nearly unbearable. In my lifetime there’s been a noticeable shift away from doing what’s best for the country and toward doing what will help one of the two political parties [...]
Blogging Elsewhere — Estimating Category Market Demand in the Automotive Aftermarket
Recently I published an article on the Aftermarket Analytics company blog, on how we estimate market demand. Check out the excerpt below, and click here to read the full post! “Until recently the Automotive Aftermarket was provided data from key channel distributors indicating monthly sales activity and market share for various vehicle part categories. At [...]
Journalists Reporting on Polls and Forecasts Should Be Required to Pass Statistics 101
Political Science professors from the University of Colorado recently published a study describing a model they constructed to forecast the result of the upcoming Presidential Election. They used various economic indicators, e.g., national and state unemployment rates, along with a handful of other variables to account for factors such as home state advantage and whether [...]
Geographer Hall of Fame – Gerardus Mercator
Joining Waldo Tobler as the second Geographer Hall of Fame inductee is Gerardus Mercator. Mercator was a 16th Century cartographer best known for inventing the Mercator projection. You can read more about Mercator on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerardus_Mercator http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_cartography And here are a few related books that may be of interest: Mark Monmonier wrote about the Mercator Projection [...]
