Swimming in the data flood

摘要

Modern utilities management involves exceptionally large quantities of data produced by smart devices throughout the utilities ecosystem. The smart electricity grid, for example, manages a massive amount of data, as it is essentially an Internet of smart meters, devices, and applications collecting data on energy consumption, usage, and requirement. Managing water requires a similar endeavor but is fraught with its own unique set of challenges. Water utilities managers need to adopt a micro and macro view of their distribution system based on the flood of data produced by meters, devices, and applications during normal planning and operations. This approach would enable them to better identify and solve the typical day-to-day challenges and also be able to draw upon a clear, contextualized view of the big picture at any given time. One technology that gives water companies this duality is situational intelligence, a visual analytics solution for the Internet of Things (IoT) that liberates decision makers from a fragmented, decontext-ualized view, providing the context and focus they need to maximize the value of the data at their disposal.