The Depot, the Terminal, and the Modern Hub: Where Does the Data Live?
In our Invisible City, moving data is half the battle. The other half is putting it somewhere. Depending on who you ask—the engineers, the analysts, or the city planners—they’ll give you different answers on where the data should live. Let’s walk through the three main types of “storage facilities” in our city infrastructure, with Conductor Mickey as our guide. 1. The Data Lake: The Massive Storage Yard The Analogy: Imagine a giant, sprawling industrial yard at the edge of the city. It’s cheap land where we throw everything. Old train seats, crates of unsorted tickets, literal piles of raw iron, and even some lost luggage. ...