US: MIT researcher Todd Mostak has invented a new parallel database that allows for crunching complex spatial and GIS data in milliseconds. Dubbed MapD, the database uses off-the-shelf gaming GPUs in the same way that you would use a rack of mini supercomputers. Mostak reports performance gains upwards of 70 times faster than CPU-based systems.
According to Data Informed, it all started when he was at the Center of Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard in 2012 and trying to map tweets for his thesis project on Egyptian politics during the Arab Spring uprising.
Source: Tech Eye
