"Big Data" is big news. It helps sellers find buyers and tells drivers where to go and how to get there. It is even revamping China's justice system.
In Guangdong Province there is something happening that shows how big data can help governments across the country.
In May 2014 Nanhai District established a data coordination bureau. Different from other government bodies, the bureau is like a combination of a post office and a data pool, where more than 40 IT engineers -- not officials nor office workers -- manage the district's 157 data bases. They are constantly coming up with new ways of using that data.
Last year, the bureau successfully helped the local procuratorate cut the number of departments from 16 to 10 in a process quite different from traditional, empirical decision-making.
They churned all the data generated by the procuratorate through various mathematical models and analyzed the business process diagrams of the original 16 departments. If two departments used or created similar data, and connected with similar people and institutions, they were integrated as one. The entire streamling process was based on the data coordination bureau's suggestions.
Data is everywhere. Data on one individual or corporation is not generally useful for others, but a massive collections of data about government, enterprises or individuals is a valuable resource.
Liu Pinyuan of the China Academy of Space Technology is an expert on smart cities. He sees big data as indispensible to building a smart city.
"In the future, all information, including our health records, taxation and others, will be accessible to us via Internet through our fingerprints and ID number," Liu said, "This will greatly increase government efficiency."
Big data means more elaborate and better organized social management. Recent media reports describe how a man was asked by the police to prove that his mother is really his mother when transferring his household registration.
"It is the typical case that data in different departments -- the civil affairs authority and the police in this case -- is not shared. Data coordination can prevent such ridiculous thing from happening," Lin said.
The food safety testing E-platform of this province has collected data related to various food products from nine provincial regions, and realized monitoring from farm to table, allowing regulators to trace food safety problems back to the source.
In early 2014, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) signed a cooperation agreement with Chinese Internet search engine giant Baidu.com to conduct research on influenza, a Chinese version of the now defunct Google Flu program. China CDC provides details of each influenza case reported along with data from influenza surveillance outposts around the country. Taking advantage of data on weather, demographics, migration and other factors, Baidu.com predicts trends in influenza.
Beijing's tourism authority collects data on the number of tourists visiting the city, where they come from and where they go,to analyze the transportation needs and prepare for possible overcrowding and emergencies.
Liu Pinyuan says government use of big data is still in its infancy, but the central authorities have realized the value of big data.
In June 2015, after visiting a big data exhibition in Guizhou, President Xi Jinping called for more research and input to put China in the front ranks of the world in big data collection and application.
The 13th five-year plan (2016-2020) will include a national big data strategy and advance the opening and sharing of data resources.
"When industry begins to make better use of big data, it will definitely make a big difference," said Liu Pinyuan. "Big data plus smart cities will be good for innovation both in industry and governments."
