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174 Big Data Analytics for Connected Vehicles and Smart Cities Building a Data Lake 175

Figure 9.1 Chapter 9 word cloud.

9.3 Introduction

Chapters 2, 3, and 5–7 touch on data lakes, with a basic definition provided in
Chapter 2 when the term was first introduced. This chapter provides a detailed
explanation of the term data lake, an explanation of the value of the data lake
and a suggested robust approach toward building a data lake. The data lake is
an analogy for bringing data together from different sources, making it acces-
sible and transforming it into a format that can be useful across the enterprise
or organization. The analogy or visual offered by the term is an extremely useful
communication tool, and it is valuable when introducing new data science and
data analytics concepts to transportation professionals. Ideally, transportation
specialists will be able to maintain a focus on their area of expertise, while mak-
ing use of new data science and analytics tools to assist in gaining new insights
and understandings. The data lake analogy allows the overall characteristics of
the concept to be discussed and a value to be defined without diving into the
weeds with respect to data science and data analytics. Bearing in mind that this
book is designed to provide an overview of big data and data analytics tech-
niques for smart cities, the data lake analogy provides an ideal communication
tool. The purpose of this chapter is not to provide a how-to guide on selecting
and using technology related to dig data and analytics. Rather, it is intended to
provide an overview of how the data lake fits within the bigger picture and the
value that can be delivered by taking this radically new approach to the storage
of data. Providing an overview, rather than a detailed exposition, also avoids
technology selection or bias toward a specific set of tools. While some specific
solutions and approaches are used to illustrate the data lake concept, the over-
all approach allows the selection of multiple technologies and solutions to fit
within the needs of the specific smart city.