What is Big Data?

Big Data is a term mentioned in various industries such as information technology, large organizations like healthcare, banking... If you've heard of Big Data but don't understand what Big Data is, let's explore an overview of Big Data in the article below.

Below, Mytour shares with you the concept of Big Data, what is it? An overview of Big Data, invite you to follow along.

What is Big Data?

Big Data means large data is a term for processing a very large and complex dataset that goes beyond the capabilities of conventional software tools to capture, store, manage, and process data within an acceptable time. The size of Big Data is a continuously changing target.

In 2012, Gartner updated its definition as follows: 'Big Data is high-volume, high-velocity, and high-variety information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision making.'

Gartner's 3Vs definition is still widely used and aligns with the consensus definition: 'Big Data typically consists of data with high Volume, Velocity, and Variety, which requires specific analysis and processing methods to extract value from it.'

Overview of Big Data

Characteristics of Big Data (5Vs)

• Volume (total storage capacity): The amount of data generated and stored. The size of data determines its value and whether it can truly be considered big data.
• Velocity (processing speed): In this case, it means the speed at which data is generated and processed to meet the demands and challenges on the path of growth and development.
• Variety (diversity of data types): The different forms and types of data. Data is collected from various sources and comes in many different structures.
• Veracity (accuracy, truthfulness): Due to the diversity of data types, the quality of the data obtained can vary greatly, affecting accurate analysis. Therefore, data must be processed using advanced tools (analysis and algorithms) to produce meaningful information.
• Value (value of information): This is the most important characteristic of the Big Data technology trend. Businesses must determine the useful information values of Big Data for their issues, problems, or business operation models.

Major Sources Generating Big Data

• Flight Data Recorders: Flight data recorders here refer to the black boxes of jet aircraft and helicopters. This data source includes information generated by the crew's voices, audio recordings, and flight information.
• Search Engine Data: This data source is generated from search engines. Search engines have extremely large databases where they can find the data they need. This is also the largest data source of Big Data.
• Power Grid Data: This data source is generated by the power grid. Power grid data includes specific information from the intersections of information-using nodes.
• Social Media Data: This data source is generated from social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google+.
• Traffic Data: This data source includes the capacity and patterns of traffic vehicles, their readiness, and the distance traveled by each traffic vehicle.
• Stock Trading Data: This data source is taken from the stock trading market with buying and selling decisions for stocks made by customers.

Technologies Used in Big Data

In 2011, McKinsey & Company analyzed and proposed technologies that could be used with Big Data, including:

• Crowdsourcing (utilizing resources from multiple global computer devices to process data together).
• Genetic and gene algorithms.
• Machine learning approaches (referring to systems capable of learning from data, a branch of artificial intelligence).
• Natural language processing (similar to Siri or Google Voice Search, but more advanced).
• Signal processing.
• Modeling, time series analysis.
• Modeling, combining powerful servers together....

Additionally, databases supporting parallel data processing, applications based on search operations, distributed file systems, cloud computing systems (including applications, computing resources, and storage space), and the Internet itself are powerful tools for research and information extraction from 'big data.'

Currently, there are several relational databases capable of storing petabytes of data in table format. They can also load, manage, back up, and optimize the use of Big Data.

Benefits of Big Data

Some benefits of Big Data include:

• Cost reduction.
• Time savings.
• Increased development time and product optimization.
• Supporting humans in making more accurate and reasonable decisions.

Example: When shopping on online platforms like eBay, Amazon, etc., when you click to buy a product, there will be suggested products for you below, which will be suitable for the product you are choosing. Therefore, researching customer preferences and habits indirectly helps businesses sell more goods.

Furthermore, Big Data applications help organizations, governments predict the unemployment rate, future job trends to invest in those categories, or reduce spending, stimulate economic growth,... Or predict epidemics to propose appropriate prevention methods.

Thus, Mytour has shared some general information about Big Data. Hopefully, after reading this article, you will have a clearer view of Big Data. Wish you success!