We have grown so used to talking about machine learning, deep learning, AI, self driving cars and global disruption that we often fail to notice the power some organizations are wielding just with the power of storing and processing a lot of data.
If you are a data science enthusiast then you must be reminded from time to time that everything boils down to data and the power to manipulate it. The story that follows taps into some such cases which may not be essentially amazing or mind boggling but practically impressive enough to make and save a lot of money and time.
Delta and the baggage
Like every other airline Delta too misplaced a couple of bags out of every thousand. The figures do not seem too depressing but one must keep in mind that a passenger has to pay an extra amount to the airlines for the safety of the baggage. If the airline fails to provide the passengers with their baggage in time, they need to pay the money back. When you are dealing with millions of bags every year, the losses can be pressing; add to that customer dissatisfaction. All this blabber about the bags was necessary to establish the importance of the simple solution.
They attached radio-frequency identification tags to the baggage. Now, the fliers can track their bags on the map. This may not be groundbreaking innovation, but it works.
23andMe and some genetic history
Really, this company dealing with biotechnology and genomics uses insights from big data analysis to build a 360 degree genetic history of their clients. Now, this may not make a lot of impact on the global climate or explain the big bang, this could mean a lot to a lot of people.
NASA and vector borne diseases
All the satellites NASA has flying around the globe are constantly generating data for decades. Their datasets contain 37 years of sea surface temperature and precipitation data along with 16 years of land surface temperature data. All these factors come to play in determining the weather and vegetation of a region. Such large data sets make it easier to spot persistent anomalies which can lead to the germination and spread of vector borne diseases. Turns out NASA was doing big data when it was not even cool, how cool is that?
Parks on the High seas
200 nautical miles into the open ocean from a country’s coast is where the high seas start. Also referred to as the international waters these areas do not fall under the jurisdiction of any nation or legal system. Hence, these waters see unbridled human activity like fishing and mining which threatens the biodiversity of the oceans. The United Nations has recently looked into this matter and decided to do something to protect the marine ecosystem. So, marine biologists are now using big data and machine learning to find places on the ocean to build marine life sanctuaries of sorts. Their algorithms are aimed at locating places where the cost of protection is balanced by the biodiversity rescued.
The variety of industries and fields affected and influenced by big data is really incredible. If this inspires you to delve deeper in this field, this might be a good time to get some big data analytics training.