The Meta of Data in Smart Buildings: What’s In It For You?

There is an increasing push to engineer and build smart control systems that better fine-tune and manage the operation of a building based on users’ needs. As these control systems rely increasingly on data-driven methods, the term “data-driven smart buildings” becomes more commonly adopted. Such data-driven smart buildings nevertheless rely also on an appropriate description of the context of these data: what is measured, for which rooms or zones, for what purpose? These data are called metadata, and they are available in a number of forms in a building operating system: the meta of data. What is the actual value of these metadata? How much effort does it cost to include such data, and what is the added value? What’s in it for you?