CHAPTER 1

Big Data and µData

Years ago, you could use a conventional database system to store,

process, and display pretty much any kind of data you might come
across. These days, thanks to ever-present sensors and the ability to
obtain large amounts of information in real time, our data has got‐
ten too big, and it changes shape almost as fast as it accumulates.
Whether it’s data from high-speed stock market trades or informa‐
tion streaming in from a heart rate monitor, it’s big and hard to con‐
trol. Big data has emerged as the catch-all term for both the data
itself and also for the tools and practices we use to get it under con‐
trol.
These tools and practices give us a better understanding of the data
through more efficient and more enlightening analysis. Applied to
financial data, it might make some of us richer. But applied to health
and fitness, we can use big data techniques to help live longer,
healthier lives.
The quantified self movement uses technology to capture data about
as many aspects of human life as can be measured. Even a single
individual can generate an incredible amount of data, depending on
what you’re monitoring. Every dimension you add—heart rate,
blood pressure, blood oxygen level—gets projected over time, so if
you’re monitoring 24/7 and sampling every second, the amount of
data gets huge.