"[1] Reality mining studies human interactions based on the usage of wireless devices such as mobile phones and GPS systems providing a more accurate picture of what people do, where they go, and with whom they communicate with rather than from more subjective sources such as a person's own account.
[2] Reality Mining is using Big Data to conduct research and analyze how people interact with technology everyday to build systems that allow for positive change from the individual to the global community.
Social websites also allow researchers to view snapshots of a person's life by following status updates on Facebook or tweets from Twitter.
Even more specific, a recent app called Snapchat allows users to post videos, pictures, or even live streams of exactly what they're doing when they're doing it, strong indicators of behaviors and interactions with the world.
This data allows researchers to know where participants are from, ethnic demographics, and the actual number of people attending the event.
They collect data from neighborhoods by employing air-quality sensors which records carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides as well as the general climate.
The University of Maryland completed a project in 2012 that demonstrated that two Bluetooth sensors permanently placed two miles apart could accurately detect traffic speeds.
[3][4] All of this combined can be created to make route-suggestion algorithms to help people get to and from places in an efficient matter that, additionally, the route can update itself in real time using these type of sensors and information.
Notable start-up, now a subsidiary of google, Waze, which also collected data from users (anonymously) who reported accidents and this game them in-app currencies and rewards.
For crime on the city scale, the first way to collect and view data is through historical research of previous reports within any area.
"In addition, the World Bank conducts international surveys and compiles census data from all participating nations— a sort of one-stop shop for information on its member countries.
Importantly, the World Bank offers an open API that allows programmers to integrate various data into software applications.
Using World Bank data, Google has integrated a simple visualization tool into its search results; a search query on the population of Botswana will pull up the number, the dated World Bank source, and a graph showing population change over decades".
Major data companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter also allow researchers to track cultural trends and even the when/where of the allocation of resources in time of natural disasters.
Ships carry about 90% of global trade; in 2001, the Automatic Identification system was implemented to record the "comings and goings of sea traffic".