The Big Data Landscape: Hurdles and Opportunities

Big Data provides an opportunity to interrogate some of the deepest scientific mysteries, e.g., how the brain works and develop new technologies, like driverless cars which, till very recently, were more in the realm of science fiction than reality. However Big Data as an entity in its own right creates several computational and statistical challenges in algorithm, systems and machine learning design that need to be addressed. In this paper we survey the Big Data landscape and map out the hurdles that must be overcome and opportunities that can be exploited in this paradigm shifting phenomenon.