The Data Vault: Top 7 data articles, 13 - 20 July

Big data is threatening to crush local democracy across the country--and if it succeeds, it may distort local transit and infrastructure development for decades to come.

I almost completely agree with Scott Holden on everything he wrote in his article on self-service BI myths over on the TDWI website last week.

The Leeds Institute for Data Analytics (LIDA), based at University of Leeds, brings together two multi-million pound national research projects into medical and consumer data, enabling partnership between researchers and external organisations. Professor Mark Birkin, director of LIDA, said the centre provides opportunity to use research to find real-world solutions to sustainability issues, healthy lifestyle challenges, transport problems and more.

Recent volatility and an uncertain direction in the price of oil is forcing businesses across the oil and gas industry to become smarter and more agile. Businesses in every segment of the industry are now looking at their business model and processes from different perspectives in order to survive or thrive.

Velocity is one of the defining characteristics of Big Data, and there are few situations in which speed is more imperative than motorsports. From NASCAR to Formula One and grassroots karting, teams and race organizers are employing ever more sophisticated data-driven strategies to shave split-seconds off lap times and provide [...]

Business intelligence vendors have a history of telling prospective business users that self-service BI software is a panacea that will get IT out of their hair and let them analyze data on their own -- easily. And I have a bridge to sell you...

This article was originally published by Scientific American. A recent study using NASA's CALIPSO satellite described how wind and weather carry millions of tons of dust from the Sahara desert to the Amazon basin each year - bringing much-needed fertilizers like phosphorus to the Amazon's depleted soils.