HI, I’M JACOB FRYE.
I am an applied urban researcher and spatial consultant bridging econometrics, GIS mapping, and ethnographic fieldwork to understand place, mobility, and everyday urban life. My work connects ground-level cultural geography with quantitative analysis, examining spatial networks and informal economies in urban China, alongside transit research, customer analytics, and urban economic anthropology in the USA. Through The Belonging Archive, I translate complex spatial and behavioral data into actionable insights for urban systems, transit initiatives, and community-centered organizations.
COLLABORATION & PRACTICE
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I combine spatial econometrics, GIS modeling, and immersive visual ethnography to solve urban and organizational challenges. Rather than looking at numbers in isolation, we ground statistical modeling in real-world spatial realities, delivering mixed-methods insights that inform strategy, policy, and market understanding.
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Ethnographic Fieldwork & Cultural Geography: Rapid applied ethnography, in-depth interviews, photo documentation, and ground-level neighborhood research.
Spatial Econometrics & GIS Mapping: High-resolution QGIS/ArcGIS mapping, demographic displacement tracking, and neighborhood spatial analysis.
Post-Ethnographic Survey Architecture: Designing better survey instruments from field insights, automated data cleaning in R/Excel, and statistical regression modeling.
Transit & Market Research: Rider travel behavior, customer experience intercepts, and mobility studies across complex urban systems.
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Available for freelance and advisory consulting on spatial data analysis, mixed-methods research design, demographic and displacement modeling, transit customer insights, and ethnographic field assessments.