Big data is a lot of data
In the current world where we keep track and store everything there is a lot of data available. Think of all the information that Facebook or Google knows about you: That's a lot of data. When talking about Big Data, it's usually about the 3 us: volume, velocity, variety. Volume is about the large amount of data (gigabytes of data coming in daily). Velocity is about the speed at which this data enters (for a time-sensitive process is a few minutes crucial). Variety involves the diversity of the data (structured, unstructured, text, audio, video, data from sensors, etc.). In 2012, 2.5 trillion bytes of data were created daily (and every 40 months this quantity doubles). This means that every second more data is present on the Internet that was created 20 years ago throughout the year. A well-known example of Big Data processing is Google flu Trends: By analyzing the look-up is predicted when and where a flu epidemic erupts.
Explaining Big Data [YouTube] 7D1CQ_LOizA [/youtube]
Google Flu Trends for the Netherlands