UPDATED 08:32 EDT / JUNE 10 2014

Intel bids to solve water shortages with Big Data

origin_4467341970Much of the conversation around Big Data is focused on big business and how it can be used to make money, but that’s not the only opportunity it presents. On the contrary, the real promise of Big Data is solving global problems and making the world a better place for us all to live.

Intel is one company that’s hoping to do its bit. It’s currently running two research programs as part of a larger project, using Big Data to help solve the problems caused by water shortages in agriculture – one of these projects entails ‘snow mapping’ in the Sierras, while the other is investigating problems with irrigation.

These programs are part of a wider initiative led by Intel to build a template for using Big Data across all spectra, in order to find solutions to the numerous problems facing humanity both now and in the future. Intel believes that the commercial value of doing so will be monumental in future, while in the short-term it hopes its efforts will help to inspire more research into Big Data reapplication.

“We see these in terms of grand challenges and tough problems,” said Vin Sharma, Intel’s director of planning and marketing for Hadoop, when speaking to Data Center Knowledge. “We want to push the boundary, we do see commercial value, but it doesn’t have to be immediate.”

Intel’s snow mapping experiment in the Sierra Nevada involves gathering data on snow coverage through a rating system on a scale of one-to-seven. The plan is to construct a database that can be queried to help farmers and governments predict grow conditions, and perhaps save their crops in those years when water supply becomes an issue.

The irrigation project has a similar aim. This “Precision Farming” experiment is being undertaken in collaboration with the University of California, Davis, with the goal being to develop a better system of managing crops and their water supply. Data is gathered through the strategic placement of sensors in agricultural land to monitor moisture levels in the soil and air, and the researcher’s great hope is they can reduce the amount of water needed for irrigation by up to fifty percent.

“The rate of water supply to the crop is determined on an ad-hoc basis,” notes Sharma. “The notion is that there is a lot of waste because of over-provisioning. You instrument better and you tie that back to the supply of water and reduce waste.”

No doubt Intel sees an opportunity to monetize these kinds of Big Data-centric projects in the future, but it’s an investment that should benefit humanity as a while far more. For Intel, one of the biggest benefits is its accumulated a varied pool of Big Data talent.

“In the beginning we had one or two data scientists,” said Sharma. “Because of our engagements with a number of these, now we have a very interesting group with specialized expertise in healthcare, telco and now increasingly in food and agronomics.”

photo credit: …-Wink-… via photopin cc


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