Where Are Data Located—and How Do We Collect Them?

Finding data is a simple matter—look to your right or left, and you likely have a potential data source at your disposal.

Isolated data, however, usually gives us very little. Haphazardly collecting everything can quickly create confusion and more work instead of insight and efficiency. If we want to use data for something constructive, we should start with knowing what we want to achieve.

A goal must be defined: Is it about streamlining logistics handling in a warehouse? Or are we creating an app that displays climate changes in real-time?

From this, we can identify the data that will be relevant and pursue it more purposefully.

In this section, we will look at where we can get a hold of data. We will also see that data comes in many shapes and sizes: The datasets can be large or small, the data can be structured or unstructured, and we can get it in real time or after the fact.

We will take a look at where data is located. But first, let's learn a little about how we can actually collect it. This will make it easier to see what we can do with the data where it’s found.