Click stream data

Metered data

Telephone call record data

Analog data

Many more types of repetitive records

Fig. 4.2.3 Different types of data.

When there are repetitive records, the same structure of data is repeated over and over,
from one record to the next. And often times, the same value of data is repeated as well.

When repetitive records are found in big data, there is no index facility as there is in a
standard DBMS. But there still is indicative data in big data even if it is not managed by
an index.

Context in Repetitive Data

Fig. 4.2.4 shows that inside the repetitive record inside big data, there is information that
can be used to identify the record. Sometimes, this information is known as context.

Fig. 4.2.4 Context.

In order to find this information in the record, the record must be parsed in order to
determine its value. But the fact is that the information is there, inside the record.

And when you look at all of the repetitive records inside the big data storage blocks, the
same type of data is in each record, in precisely the same format. Fig. 4.2.5 shows that

Chapter 4.2: What Is Big Data?