Meet the Speaker: Luuk Louter, Data Scientist for Jones Lang LaSalle

In the second of our blog series to highlight Europe’s leading location intelligence seminar Geo Business, taking place in Amsterdam on Tuesday 17^th March, we’re delighted to share some insights from one of our amazing speakers, Luuk Louter.

Luuk is a Data Scientist at Jones Lang LaSalle so read on to find out more about Luuk, his work with spatial data and what you can expect to hear from him at the event.

Hi Luuk! Tell us about your work at JLL …

JLL is a market-leading all-round real-estate service providing advice to buyers, sellers, owners and occupants in four main markets: offices, retail, industrial and residential. While the real estate business is well-established, JLL is always looking at innovative ways to drive growth.

My role is a new one; I’m working on a pioneering project for real estate price predictions. I am developing an automated valuation model (AVM) which predicts housing prices by combining Machine Learning and geostatistics. A crossover of these techniques is rather new, especially in a conventional business, such as the real estate business.

This sounds like a fascinating initiative, how is the company benefitting?

I think that the phrase ‘location, location, location’ is as important as ever to our business, even with the rapid developments in modelling techniques. I’m using a Machine Learning algorithm in a practical way, making it much easier to conduct tangible analyses which are used by my colleagues to present to clients. The results will also be integrated in a live spatial database structure. This spatially driven approach is providing huge opportunities for clients, who now have an interactive way to view and discuss their portfolio strategies.

What’s your background? How did you find this role?

Growing up my parents took our family travelling to lots of different countries outside of Europe, so my interest in geography was sparked pretty early on. My degree studies in human geography led to an interest in city planning and economics and I started to understand how location intelligence can help derive business insights from spatial data.

My Masters then focussed on further exploring the possibilities of GIS. It did not take long before I got familiar with Machine Learning and its profound opportunities for spatial data analysis. My timeline matched well with the ambitions of JLL, who recognised the benefits of a state-of-the-art housing price prediction model. I was therefore provided with the fantastic opportunity to lead this project, supporting both strategic planning and market development across the organisation.

Such a journey! Was there a Lightbulb moment for you?

Yes! In 2015 I joined two real estate experts to an event about the Amsterdam housing market, discussing how to solve the high pressure. At the time I was working on an explanatory regression for the development of housing values. A delegate shared his thoughts on how to adjust my data to develop a predictive model. The idea never left my mind. That was it - a real spark for me.

Can you share a final thought on the value of all things spatial for potential attendees?

The winners in business will be those who adapt to new technological developments in a fast and practical way. My belief is that geo-information will stay at the core of real estate research. I think Geo Business will have some excellent networking opportunities and I’m looking forward to exchanging ideas with other delegates and hearing others’ philosophies about spatial data.

Thank you Luuk!  To find out more about the agenda for the Geo Business seminar and register for free, click here. We look forward to seeing you in Amsterdam on March 17th!