5 Cool and Unusual Big Data Applications
We don't much care for big government using big data to monitor phone calls; and we worry about how many big data databases we may be in and for what purposes. In fact, by 2020, according to and EMC forecast, there will be about 5,200 GB of data on every human on the planet. That's a total of 44+ zetabytes.
As with any new technological advance, we have to take the bad with the good. And there are plenty of "goods" to be found in the applications of big data. Here are just a few:
- NewsInformatics.com, and news collection and analysis company is using big data to process global financial and market news. It processes and delivers that news to individual hedge fund managers and financial analysts based upon their individual requests and interests. It save hours of time and, as well, can tie together connections between events that a human might not otherwise discover.
- TomTom, the popular satellite navigation device, now applies big data to inform drivers of traffic jams, accidents, etc., but will soon be using it to assist planners with such things as where hospitals might be located. Its other innovations will include those related to self-driving cars.
- Big data is now being used to improve health care delivery to individuals and to discover potential fraud and identity theft.
1. Smart Parking
When founder Wen Sang arrived in Boston from China and bought a car, he quickly realized how tough it was to find a parking space in the city. He and a few friends decided to develop a big data application for parking lots owners/managers and for customers alike. Using the data that parking lots were already collecting as cars entered and left the lots, they are able to Smarking is able to analyze the data which can have multiple uses. Lot managers can know historical trends as well as get real time information on what spots are left and where. The data also pulls in information about events, flight schedules, and weather conditions to drive decision-making for both managers and customers. Currently, Smarking is working with Boston's Logan Airport in an attempt to significantly increase income from its parking lots.
2. Who's Next on the Billboard Charts?
Next Big Sound thinks it can predict this. Using big data applications to analyze the popularity of current and upcoming artists, this company, recently bought by Pandora, is a resource for both recording companies and for artists themselves. Artists can have sales and social media activity fully analyzed and make better decisions about marketing efforts or groups to target when they create their next "big hit." They can know which of their singles are most popular and make decisions about their next creations. The music industry will receive analytics that will predict which artists are "destined for the charts based upon current data on popularity and sales.
3. Fantasy Sports – Data-Driven Player Selections
Gaming is not something that would normally be a target of big data solutions, unless, of course, you are Valery Bollier and Benjamin Carlotti, co-founders of Oulala, a fantasy football company. Their idea was unique – instead of merely developing a game for both minors and adults, and not being distinguishable from dozens of other football games out there, they would use big data from the footballers as they played, so that players could analyze that data as they selected their teams. Essentially, they turned fantasy football into an adult game involving skill, not just luck. After two years of offering the game for free, it is now monetized.
4. Saving the Animals
In December, 2014, the owner of a popular U.S. sandwich shop, Jimmy Johns, killed, for sport, the last black female rhino in the Manghetti Park in South Africa. This animal is highly endangered, and it is rumored that she was pregnant at the time of the kill. The deed was appalling to animal rights activists and conservationists alike. Big data is now being used to locate, count, and track the most endangered species. A collaboration between HP and Conservation International has created "Earth Insights," a big data application that uses almost 1,000 devices to collect and analyze data about species, which HP then runs through its Vertica platform for analysis. The information will allow conservation departments to invest their time and money wisely in order to save these animals.
5. And for the Foodies
IBM now has a foodie robot, named Chef Watson. He does not operate in a kitchen, however. Working with the Institute of Culinary Education in New York, Chef Watson is gathering and analyzing data and coming up with unique and unusual recipes, pairing truly unusual combinations – mushrooms and strawberries together, anyone? Watson takes in lots of dis-organized data about food – chemical compounds, recipes, studies in culinary schools and colleges, social media, and books. The elements are then all analyzed, and the unique pairings and recipes are the result.
Big data will do amazing things in our near and distant future. It will help to design smart cities, smart schools, and a host of other beneficial product and services. We are definitely just at the "tip" of this iceberg.