Big Data Definition

Big Data describes big volumes of unstructured data, which can only be evaluated with computers and specialized algorithms. Analysis of data sets can find new correlations to spot business trends, prevent diseases, combat crime and many more. The size and number of available data sets has grown rapidly as data is collected by devices such as mobile devices, cheap and numerous information-sensing Internet of things devices. The term big data has been in use since the 1990s, some are giving credit to John Mashey for popularizing the term.