Frequent challenges regarding data fusion and integration

While every data integration task is unique, there are a few challenges that you will face frequently. In this chapter, you will learn about those challenges and, through examples, you will pick up the skills to handle them. First, let's learn about each. Then, through examples that feature one or more of them, we will pick up valuable skills to handle them.

Challenge 1 – entity identification

The entity identification challenge – or as it is known in the literature, the entity identification problem – may occur when the data sources are being integrated by adding attributes. The challenge is that the data objects in all the data sources are the same real-world entities with the same definitions of data objects, but they are not easy to connect due to the unique identifiers in the data sources. For instance, in the data integration example section, the sales department and the marketing department...