2012 Olympics Puts Big Data Through Its Paces

Source: Irfan Khan, Sybase

The Olympics revels in structured data. The games measure thousands of athletes competing in hundreds of events setting countless records. Every contestant in every competition makes his or her mark. And it’s duly noted, often with attendant metadata such as that day’s wind speed or temperature.

But Olympics’ structured data goes far beyond the winners and losers who snagged gold, silver, bronze, or nothing at all. It includes how many spectators arrived to witness the sport, what they spent, where, and for what. As with every one of these quadrennial spectacles these data will be queried to determine whether the Olympics validated the investment or not for London.

Read Irfan Khan blog