Big data exhibits following five characteristics shown in Figure., that distinguish it from traditional data.
(A) Volume
The most prominent characteristic of big data is its enormous size. If a particular dataset is of such large size that it is difficult to process it with traditional DBMS tools, it can be termed as big data.
(B) Velocity
It represents the rate at which the data under consideration are being generated and stored. Big data has an exponentially higher rate of generation than traditional data sets.
(C) Variety
It asserts that a dataset has varied data, such as structured, semi-structured and unstructured data. Some examples are text, images, videos, web-pages and so on.
(D) Veracity
Big data can be sometimes inconsistent, biased, noisy or there can be abnormality in the data or issues with the data collection methods. Veracity refers to the trustworthiness of the data because processing such incorrect data can give wrong results or mislead the interpretations.
(E) Value
Big data is not only just a big pile of data, but also possess to have hidden patterns and useful knowledge which can be of high business value. But as there is cost of investment of resources in processing big data, we should make a preliminary enquiry to see the potential of the big data in terms of value discovery or else our efforts could be in vain.
