Interpreting IoT Data: Context is Everything

For decades “things” have been connected to the Internet. Embedded in carefully planned end-to-end solutions, the what and why of the data arising from these devices has often been hard-coded. In other words, in the M2M world, it is usually clear from the outset what is going to happen with the data. In a future IoT, this won’t necessarily be the case. In a world full of connected devices, the meaning and the potential of the device data is only going to become clear in the context where it is needed in. But how can software tell that your connected thermometer is useful for a medical application, or that a car in the drive way is likely an indicator of your partner’s presence? This is where device catalogues, information models and ontologies come in handy. While the talk is not specifically tailored towards a smart city focus, it should become clear how these technologies can be useful in such environment.