The purpose of Brahe's measurements, and the reason he hired Kepler, was to gather data for astrological predictions. The principles of astrology led them to look for simple, basic principles in a way that a computer would not, unless directly programmed to do so. The astronomical measurements alone were not enough.
Granted, the reason why people did Astronomy was because they believed in Astrology, but it's no longer been the case since a while.