Big Data Characteristics: Know the 5’Vs of Big Data

Big Data Characteristics are mere words that explain the remarkable potential of Big Data.
This pinnacle of Software Engineering is purely designed to handle the enormous data that is
generated every second and all the 5 Vs that we will discuss, will be interconnected as
follows.
The term Big Data refers to a huge volume of data that can not be stored processed by any
traditional data storage or processing units. Big Data is generated at a very large scale and it
is being used by many multinational companies to process and analyse in order to uncover
insights and improve the business of many organisations.

Get an in-depth understanding of the Big data concepts from the Hadoop Course.

Types of Big-Data
Big Data is generally categorized into three different varieties. They are as shown below:

 Structured Data
 Semi-Structured Data
 Unstructured Data

 Structured Data owns a dedicated data model, It also has a well-defined structure, it

follows a consistent order and it is designed in such a way that it can be easily
accessed and used by a person or a computer. Structured data is usually stored in
well-defined columns and also Databases.

Example: Database Management Systems(DBMS)

 Semi-Structured Data can be considered as another form of Structured Data. It

inherits a few properties of Structured Data, but the major part of this kind of data
fails to have a definite structure and also, it does not obey the formal structure of data
models such as an RDBMS.

Example:Comma Separated Values(CSV) File.

 Unstructured Data is completely a different type of which neither has a structure nor
obeys to follow the formal structural rules of data models. It does not even have a
consistent format and it found to be varying all the time. But, rarely it may have
information related to data and time.

Example: Audio Files, Images etc

Edureka offers Data Architect Certification for the learners to all master Big Data tools.

Characteristics of Big Data

Volume

Volume refers to the unimaginable amounts of information generated every second from

social media, cell phones, cars, credit cards, M2M sensors, images, video, and whatnot. We
are currently using distributed systems, to store data in several locations and brought
together by a software Framework like Hadoop.

Facebook alone can generate about billion messages, 4.5 billion times that the “like” button
is recorded, and over 350 million new posts are uploaded each day. Such a huge amount of
data can only be handled by Big Data Technologies

Variety

As Discussed before, Big Data is generated in multiple varieties. Compared to the traditional

data like phone numbers and addresses, the latest trend of data is in the form of photos,
videos, and audios and many more, making about 80% of the data to be completely
unstructured

Structured data is just the tip of the iceberg.

Veracity

Veracity basically means the degree of reliability that the data has to offer. Since a major part
of the data is unstructured and irrelevant, Big Data needs to find an alternate way to filter
them or to translate them out as the data is crucial in business developments.

Sources of Data Veracity

There are several sources of the veracity of data. Some of these examples of veracity
include: 
 Statistical Biases: Data becomes inaccurate because of statistical biases as some data
points are given more weightage than others leading to inconsistency in the data or
unfavourable Bias or data bias is the error in which some data elements have more
weightage than others. This results in inaccurate data when an organization decides on
calculated values suffering from statistical Bias.
 Bugs in Application: Data can get distorted due to bugs present within the software or
application. Bugs can transform or miscalculate the data.
 Noise: Another source of data veracity is noise in the dataset. Noise is information of no
value, such as missing or incomplete data, which creates unnecessarily irrelevant data.
 Outliers or Anomaly: Abnormalities such as outliers or anomalies mean erroneous
data points deviating the data from its normalcy. For instance, fraud detection is based
on abnormal transactions done using internet banking. 
 Uncertainty: Even after taking measures to ensure the quality of the data, there are
chances that discrepancies within the data, such as incorrect values, stale or obsolete, or
duplicate data, lead to uncertainty.
 Lack of credible data sources: Data lineage is one of the important factors in
maintaining the correct data. As the data is collected, captured, extracted, and stored
from various sources, it is very difficult to trace the data sources.

Value

Value is the major issue that we need to concentrate on. It is not just the amount of data that
we store or process. It is actually the amount of valuable, reliable and trustworthy data that
needs to be stored, processed, analysed to find insights.

Velocity

Last but never least, Velocity plays a major role compared to the others, there is no point in
investing so much to end up waiting for the data. So, the major aspect of Big Dat is to
provide data on demand and at a faster pace.
Applications of Big Data

Big Data is considered the most valuable and powerful fuel that can run the massive IT
industries of the 21st Century. Big Data is being the most wide-spread technology that is
being used in almost every business sector. Let us now check out a few as mentioned below.

Travel and Tourism is one of the biggest users of Big Data Technology. It has enabled us to
predict the requirements for travel facilities in many places, improving business through
dynamic pricing and many more
Financial and Banking Sectors extensively uses Big Data Technology. Big data analytics
can aid banks in understanding customer behaviour based on the inputs received from their
investment patterns, shopping trends, motivation to invest and personal or financial
backgrounds.

Big Data has already started to create a huge difference in the healthcare sector. With the
help of predictive analytics, medical professionals and Health Care Personnel are now able to
provide personalized healthcare services to individual patients.