An overview of big data opportunities, applications and tools

Nowadays, many industries and government can exploit Big Data to extract valuable insight. Such insight can help decision makers to enhance their strategies and optimize their plans. It helps the organization to gain a competitive advantage and provides added value for many economic and social sectors. In fact, several governments have launched programs, with important funds, in order to enhance research and development in the field of Big Data. Private sector has also made many investments to maximize profits and optimize resources. This article presents several Big Data projects, opportunities, examples and models in many sectors such as healthcare, commerce, tourism and politics. It gives also examples of technologies and solutions developed to face Big Data challenges.

I. Introduction

The value of Big Data is now being recognized by many industries and governments. In fact, the efficient mining of Big Data enables to improve the competitive advantage and to add value for many sectors (economic, social, medical, research and so on). Big Data is mainly defined by its 3Vs fundamental characteristics. The 3Vs include Velocity (data are growing and changing in a rapid way), Variety (data come in different and multiple formats) and Volume (huge amount of data is generated every second) [1]. According to [2] these three characteristics must coexist to confirm that a source is a Big Data source. If one of these three Vs does not apply, we cannot discuss about Big Data.