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April 2025
The Spark
The Spark
A friend participates in extreme off-roading competitions. He asked if I could help visualize and project their progress to help with the competition. This is a different project because it's not education data but I love a dataset and this one came with some unique challenges!
The Process
The Process
Wrangle the Data
Wrangle the Data
I converted the GPX to CSV and imported it to Google Sheets. The data was clean to begin with but there was too much of it.
Find the Signal, Ignore the Noise
Find the Signal, Ignore the Noise
Have you played MarioKart and raced the Ghost Car? This data is a long log of the Ghost Car's geographic data. I needed a way to know when the the Ghost Car has paused or stopped but satellite data is noisy. I had to find the signal. I won't tell you how because I want them to win!
Reconversion
Reconversion
I trimmed the data and made comment and type flags. I extracted the data, converted it back to GPX, and uploaded it into their GPS system. Success!
The Visual
The Visual
This visual started with a map to understand the data but ended with a ready-to-go GPS map.
I can't imagine trusting my path to a part-time data scientist principal who has never been off-road!
The Takeaway
The Takeaway
Finding a signal amongst the noise is hard work. Trusting a signal and communicating its value clearly are part of the fun. My friend's team was within minutes of the Ghost Car before a medical issue took them off the course. I'm hoping for victory next year! This was a fun project.
Next Steps
Next Steps
One small note here - if you think you'll ever repeat a project, take copious process notes. This is like any data or programming work - leave yourself good notes. I'm ready for next year because of the time I took explaining (to myself) the process of finding the signal within the noise.
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