Dan Winchester

Dan is the founder of GetTheData, and is a seasoned web developer with three decades of experience developing websites and online applications.

Dan's experience has been built up as either founder, or technical co-founder, of a number of successful micro businesses.

Proptech

Dan founded one of the first UK property information websites, HousePrices.co.uk, in 2005. The site exposed property sold prices, sourced from the Land Registry, via a freetext search built using the Lucene search engine. HousePrices.co.uk grew to an audience of around 1 million users per month, and was acquired by Zoopla in 2010. Dan continued to work as a consultant for Zoopla after the acquisition.

Geo

Dan has had an interest in geocoding, mapping, and Geographic Information Systems, dating from the early 2000s, where he was technical co-founder of an online hotel booking service. The booking service's website put location at the heart of the search experience, allowing users to precisely identify the proximity of each hotel relative to their destination. Dan continued developing his interest in this area when he founded Free Dating, which allows users to choose an approximate fixed location which serves as their location in search results, e.g. a postcode near where they live. After establishing GetTheData, Dan further developed his expertise in Geographic Information Systems, building custom maps using open source data and Mapnik.

The below map is an example of this GIS expertise, and shows a mashup of Land Registry INSPIRE Index Polygons, and selected underlying layers from Ordnance Survey's Open Zoomstack mapping product:

Fraud Prevention

Dan is technical co-founder of fraud prevention company Scamalytics, which uses a mix of open, commercial, and proprietary data to assess the risk that an IP address is being used to transact fraud. As part of his expertise in using data for fraud prevention, Dan has been interviewed a number of times in the media:

The BBC interviewed Dan for series one, two, and three of their For Love or Money show, where he used data to uncover information about dating scammers.

talkRADIO interviewed Dan for their Cristo Foufas show.

WIRED interviewed Dan for a story about dating scammers and Scamalytics.

Dating

Dan founded online dating site Free Dating in 2005, and has been running all aspects of the service ever since, including developing the platform. As well as a successful business in its own right, Free Dating acts as a test bed to develop, refine, and evaluate fraud prevention strategies and technologies.

The Online Dating and Discovery Association

Dan has served on the board of The Online Dating and Discovery Association continuously since August 2013, including a period as Deputy Chair. The association aims to drive up standards in the Online Dating and Social Discovery categories.

Contact Dan

[email protected]

linkedin.com/in/danwinchester/