The Astonishing Big Data Generated In A Single Journey
We are constantly generating increasing volumes of data with everything we do. During a recent business trip, I started thinking about how travelling presents a great example of this. With the explosion of the Internet of Things into our lives, the amount of analysable data we leave behind us as we go about our day-to-day lives is growing exponentially. So I decided to try and identify some key bits of data I generated and left behind on a trip from my home in the heart of the English midlands (actually, the “smart city” of Milton Keynes) across the western ocean to the Big Apple.
I am generating data before I even wake up – the sleep monitor on the fitness-tracking wristband I am wearing is uploading data on my movement, heart rate and skin temperature to a cloud somewhere, so I can anaylze the quality of my rest. Once I am awake and moving about the house, my Nest thermostats, fire detectors and cameras detect this activity and register that I am home and awake.
Although my home city is host to the UK’s first driverless car trials, this technology isn’t available to me yet, so I will have to drive myself. As I head down the motorway to the airport, the GPS in my phone is constantly updating an entire conglomerate of mostly California-based software companies on my location. Telemetry fitted to my car is passing information on the speed I am travelling in and the route I am taking to my insurers, which use this to dynamically assess the premiums I am paying according to the risks I take. Crawling along at 5mph on the M1 motorway this morning, the risks seem fairly low so I smile to myself in anticipation of the cuts to my premiums I can doubtless expect (right?)
On top of that, the networks of CCTV cameras fitted with ANPR catch me at key points in my journey – sometimes this information goes to highway authorities to help measure traffic flow, and sometimes to law enforcement where red flags will pop up if my car is uninsured, untaxed, reported stolen or if its driver is of interest to them (hopefully not!)
At the airport I check in using the smartphone app provided by the airline I am flying with. Now they know I am at the airport, but in reality they’ve been tracking me for far longer than that, and thanks to this they know that I like to sit in a window seat and the cabin crew may well know what refreshments to offer me on board thanks to data I’ve left behind on previous trips.
The aircraft I’m on will be generating a lot of data of its own, too. If (as is likely) it is one of the 50,000 which is fitted with a Rolls Royce engine, then data from over 100 sensors will be live streaming to engineers at the company headquarters in Derby, England. Air pressure, operating temperature, speed and vibration levels are all sent in real time and minor problems can be corrected, literally on the fly. More detailed data (several terabytes per flight) is stored on flight data recorders and transferred to HQ when the flight has landed.
