The world is changing and technology is powering this change. With over 30 billion RFID tags being sold in 2010 alone to 4 billion camera phones in 2009 and 900 million GPS devices having been sold in the same period. There were 76 million smart electric meters in the year 2009. Moreover, almost half of the population on earth has access to the internet and that number is only likely to grow in the future. Thus, the world is being prepared to be a smarter planet and big data can be used to make it happen.

Smart Planet

Our smart planet is going to be powered by smart energy, smart traffic, smart oil fields, smarter water management, smart food supply, smart disease prevention, smarter cities, and smart healthcare. All of these will help change the world for the better. It is expected that technology will make the lives of just about every person on Earth a whole lot better with the help of the following.

• Smart Energy: Smart and better energy generation, allocation, development, and monitoring. It will help ensure that energy is not wasted and is produced using the most optimal techniques.
• Smart Traffic: There are plenty of issues related to traffic. It is costing the world economy billions and trillions of dollars. Millions of people around the world waste a lot of their time in traffic and there is a need for smarter commute options. Thus, smart traffic management will be established to counter traffic issues in all major cities.
• Smart Oil Fields: Oil exploration and management will be better managed. There will be fewer chances of any oil spillage and smart oil fields will ensure that oil is drilled from oil wells in the most environmentally efficient way possible.
• Smarter Water Management: Water will become the oil of the future. As the world population explodes and as there is a lack of water resources in many countries, smarter water management will play a key role. The Netherlands has been at the forefront of water management and it is believed that the country will lead the way when it comes to smarter water management. There are tried and true water purification products such as the travel berkey filter that can help with smarter water management.
• Smart Food Supply: Food continues to be wasted around the world. Developed economies are the largest contributors to this waste and hence, there is a need for the development of a smart food supply system which ensures that no food goes to waste. The smart food supply system will help provide necessary food items to countries that suffer from malnutrition such as Bangladesh, India, and many African countries.
• Smart Disease Prevention: Malaria and other diseases are still one of the most common causes of death in Africa and South America. However, such diseases can be prevented. Hence, the establishment of a smart disease prevention framework to tackle different diseases which can be prevented. It will help reduce the global mortality rate and ensure a healthier global workforce.
• Smarter Cities: As more and more people move to urban areas, it is predicted that as much as 3/4 of the global population will live in cities. Hence, cities are predicted to become even more populated. Therefore, the setting up of smarter cities will help mitigate issues related to better city management and housing problems.
• Smart Healthcare: Healthcare should be a basic human right and that is why smart healthcare will help provide the basic infrastructure for every human to have access to healthcare.

Creation of Big/ Fast Data

As our planet becomes smarter, it will lead to the creation of big/ fast data that will be powered by billions of connected devices. Big/ fast analytics will make it possible to provide crucial information with just a press of a button. Thus, one can expect faster decisions that are based on deeper insights, real-time awareness predictive models which provide more accurate information, reactive analytics that allow one to predict future events, and deep analytics for providing much-needed information for making better decisions.

Big data will provide new opportunities to everyone and every industry. From Homeland Security to different governmental departments, the data they have acquired can be used for deep analytics in order to generate information that powers the future.

Educate Yourself on Big Data-centric Architectures for Performance

As a data-centric model becomes commonplace, it is vital that you educate yourself on big data-centric architectures for optimal performance. It will ensure that you are able to react to global changes and can better adapt to the future. There will be many new big data-centric platforms that will be developed. It is important that you understand all of these platforms and use them to your advantage.