Big data making life easier for a city dweller

Living in big cities, wherever you are in the world, comes at a cost: more expensive groceries, smaller living spaces, exorbitant parking space, traffic, noise and pollution, to name a few. Being in Tokyo myself, I experience all of that and some more. So I decided to take full advantage of new technologies to make things a bit easier and share my experience and thoughts with you.

Everyday convenience
We have gone fully online for everything that is bulky, repetitive and does not need to be selected every time (ie like fresh produces), and choose Amazon (Prime and Amazon family members - called "Amazon Mom" in the US).
Besides the obvious price advantage (no retail space to pay, passing down savings to consumers), convenience is great. The shipping notice comes by email, of course, but being displayed in Google Now in great details changes everything.

Amazon has a great agreement with delivery services (here Yamato Transport) thanks to which there is a deep link in the notice email to their parcel tracking service (in blue at the bottom of the image above). Without any login, I can check hour-by-hour the status, on any Google connected device, and know more or less when the delivery will arrive.

And it was accurate at +/- 30 minutes. Speak of convenience! I can mind my own business outside home or get into a meeting without the risk of being interrupted or missing the delivery. I am sold on it!

Technologies
What made this possible is the convergence of 3 technologies: databases, real time positioning (GPS) and unified online ID.

• Amazon and Yamato (the transporter) have linked their databases to permit a rapid exchange of information, to make it as relevant as possible for consumers (see a brief description of what happens on Amazon Japan English page). They have done it in an open way so that a third party (like Google) can actually use this information to provide added value to users. As consumers, we have to authorize and accept that our information is analyzed, crossed between many databases/tables and profiles, shared between companies and accessible for our own convenience. Databases are nothing new of course, it is how the underlying technologies and the protocols to exchange information between them that makes a difference.
• Real-time positioning (based on GPS), allows us (sellers and transporter of goods as well) to know exactly where a parcel is and estimate its delivery time, based on past experiences stored and analyzed in databases. Each parcel gets scanned (with a bar code or a QR code, or RFID tag, ) every time it changes hands or reach a distribution point and the information goes up in the database and back to us via our devices. It is the same technology that helps us find our way or receive timely and geo-targeted offers.
• Unique Online ID is our online unique face that permits companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon or others to recognize us wherever we are and propose us customized service and information. Think how you can connect to so many services by just using your Facebook login or Google login, that is it.

The benefit I get from the use of these technology makes my life easier, and yours certainly too. At the same time we hear from many sources about "big data", our private information being mined and combined here and there, and users being "the product". And in a way it can be said to be true. But I believe it is an alarmist and headline grabbing and unbalance way of depicting the whole picture.


Quick conclusion
If we look at my own example and the benefit I received from it, it overweights the possible downsides. Of course we need to be vigilant about how our data is being used, kept, managed and destroyed by keeping up to date on T&Cs and not letting companies & governments off the hook. That said, I believe that stating a simple "not for me" is going against the march of progress and denying ourselves a lot of convenience.
Next time, I will be looking at how I have decided not to have a car full time and conclude on some broader questions. Until then, do not hesitate to let me know what you think.