Yelp Dataset Analysis using Scalable Big Data

Yelp has served and will continue to serve as a data-driven application. Yelp has published a dataset containing business information, reviews, user information, and check-in information. This paper will examine this dataset to provide descriptive analytics to understand business performance, geo-spatial distribution of businesses, reviewers' rating and other characteristics, and temporal distribution of check-ins in business premises. With these analysis we are able to establish that yelp reviews, tips, elite users and check ins have started to plummet over the years. Coincidentally, the paper also establishes that Canadians have a more stable star ratings as well as sentiment ratings when compared to Americans.