Elements of an infrastructure for big urban data

Abstract

Big Data provides a significant challenge to the practices that have evolved based on traditional sources of urban data. The variety of Big Data raises questions of integration, whether based on space and time or on individual identity. Uncertainty impinges in many ways on Big Data and on methods of data integration, and the goals of data integration are also affected by complex patterns of data ownership and access. Edge computing provides a conceptual basis for a discussion of the locations of computing. A final section speculates about the long-term, broader impacts of Big Data infrastructure. The paper identifies a number of pressing questions for research.