Maven Slope Challenge

Looking for the Best Ski Resort: Analyzing a Fascinating Dataset!

The Maven Analytics Challenge presented an intriguing opportunity to delve into a captivating dataset of 500 ski resorts from around the world. Through this challenge, I aimed to scrutinize the data and determine which ski resort was most suitable based on the questionnaire filled by the user.

The dataset was a tremendous resource for enthusiasts of data analysis, providing an extensive range of information on ski resorts worldwide. From accommodation prices per person to the number of ski lifts and the types of facilities available, the dataset was a goldmine of information. Analyzing the data was an enthralling experience that stimulated my imagination and offered a great opportunity to enhance my analytical and design skills.

These are my notes from the challenge:

Step 1: Conducting Exploratory Data Analysis

Understanding the underlying data is crucial for any analysis work, and this stage is the most critical. Before starting the analysis, I completed some feature engineering on the dataset.

a) I filled in the missing season column using either Google or the nearest resort and country data. Later, I expanded and converted the season start and end data into a date type variable using Power Query. This was used later to dynamically change the available resorts for a selected month.

b) I cleaned the snowfall dataset by removing unnecessary data points, reducing the total points from over 700k to less than 300k. I used the latitude and longitude ranges of continents to filter and populate a new continent column. This was later used in the data model to map with the resorts dataset.

c) Using helpful Excel functionalities, I also found the out-of-pocket health expenses along with the number of physicians per thousand population. I used this information later in the final visual to provide a warning to buy health insurance.

Step 2: Experimenting with Design Elements

I experimented with different design elements to create a report in the format of a webpage. The user would answer questions based on their requirements, and the report would suggest the best resort according to their needs. A map of all the other nearby resorts matching the criteria is also provided, and the user can hover over these resorts to view more details. Using the month slicer, the user can verify whether a resort is open for skiing.

Step 3: Bringing it All Together

Combining all of these elements, I created a final web page-like user interface. Since the task was to help a user finalize a resort, I believe it would be redundant to provide additional data analysis and potentially confuse the end user.

Feedback and comments are always welcomed!

Thank you for reading, and I look forward to seeing you in my next post! 😁