Data for processing by a machine learning model may be prepared by encoding a first portion of the data including a spatial data. The spatial data may include a spatial coordinate including one or more values identifying a geographical location. The encoding of the first portion of the data may include mapping, to a cell in a grid system, the spatial coordinate such that the spatial coordinate is represented by an identifier of the cell instead of the one or more values. The data may be further prepared by embedding a second portion of the data including textual data, preparing a third portion of the data including hierarchical data, and/or preparing a fourth portion of the data including numerical data. The machine learning model may be applied to the prepared data in order to train, validate, test, and/or deploy the machine learning model to perform a cognitive task.