Advances in big data applications for transportation: Airline, highway, and railway

Aim: The purpose of this article is to present the latest advances in big data applications in the industries of the transportation sector such as airline, highway, and railway. It is difficult to analyze data in transportation because there is continuous real-time data flow. Since the improvements made are fast with the same logic, it is necessary to catch up with the new developments. Data should be analyzed with the big data concept because data stacks highly contain non-structural data types in transportation data. Although the mentioned industries are complementary to each other, the applications differ depending on the needs of the industry. Thus, solutions to specific problems in different industries using big data applications should be addressed. Design / Research methods: In accordance with the purpose of the study, big data studies that provide added value to the transportation sector were examined. Studies have been filtered through some criteria which are whether the application is adaptable to the industry, the study is available online in full-text, and its references are from respectable sources. Conclusions / findings: All the big data application studies in the academy are not adaptable in real-life problems or suitable for all situations. For this reason, trying all of the applications will lead to moral and material losses for firms. This study is a guideline for companies to follow the developments in the big data concept and to choose the one that suits their problems. Thus, the gap between academia and industry was tried to close. Originality / value of the article: Although studies are referring to big data applications in the transportation sector, this study differs from others in terms of specifically analyzing big data applications in different industries such as airline, highway, and railway in the transportation sector