10 Facts About Time-Series Data You Should Know

You can use it on your smartphone to know whether it’s going to rain tomorrow, on smart home devices that will play music for you (hey, Alexa!), and some countries are even making the most of it to build smart cities and speed up vehicle control.

Time-series data is everywhere and helps you track changes over time, allowing you to understand what, why, and when something happened. Time-series analysis takes time-series data a step further, enabling you to extract new insights and forecast changes or trends.

As more and more applications are built on it, the need to manage, store, and analyze that timestamped information swiftly and efficiently is increasing for developers and data scientists worldwide.

If you are new to the time-series world, let’s start by explaining 10 facts about time-series data so you can better grasp what you’re working with:

1. It has time stamps.

2. It is append-only.

3. There is usually a lot of it.

4. It can have a life cycle.

5. It is relentless.

6. It is everywhere.

7. It needs to be available in real time.

8. It allows you to forecast.

9. It loves to be graphed.

10. It can be difficult to host.

Watch the video for a more in-depth explanation of each of these points. And if you need the best database to handle time-series data or are especially struggling with number 10, we've got you covered: try Timescale for free for 30 days (no credit card required) or self-host using TimescaleDB.