[Desustorm]

Alternative data is non-financial data which can be tied to various securities.

Financial data, for example, would be EUR USD spot prices. Non-financial data (i.e. "alternative data") could be healthcare reports which you could theoretically couple to e.g. pharma stocks.

[bostik]

There are quite a few, and I can think of these off the top of my head:

- Real-time weather data from major ports and across the main shipping lines

- Telemetry from crop and soil report systems

- Up-to-date satellite imagery of basically anything large under construction (solar farms, factories, ...)

Provide information like that in a machine-readable, consistent format and you have a business.

Btw... Using satellite images to track car manufacturers' inventory levels is an old idea, used for more than a decade.