Real-time generation of unique identifiers for flight objects

1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, in real-time, through a network, from a first data source, information for a flight object comprising a first set of fields and corresponding values that describe information for a first aircraft flight;

in response to receiving a request from a client, retrieving one or more global identifier records from a global identifier database, each global identifier record comprising a unique global identifier for a respective aircraft flight and a respective second set of fields and corresponding values of the global identifier database that describe the respective aircraft flight;

calculating, based on a comparison of the first set of fields with some or all of the one or more respective second sets of fields, a respective confidence value for each pairing of the flight object with a respective one of the one or more global identifier records; and

updating, when a calculated confidence value exceeds a threshold value, the global identifier record corresponding to the calculated confidence value using information from the first set of fields.

2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining whether the information for the flight object was previously recorded in a first table of the global identifier database corresponding to the first data source; and

when the information for the flight object was not previously recorded, recording the information for the flight object in the first table.

3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, in real-time, through the network, from a second data source, information for a second flight object corresponding to the first aircraft flight;

recording information for the second flight object in a second table of the global identifier database corresponding to the second data source; and

updating the global identifier record corresponding to the first aircraft flight using the information for the second flight object.

4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the respective confidence value for each pairing comprises:

initializing the confidence value to an initial value;

comparing, for each field of a predefined plurality of fields, the corresponding values of the first set of fields and of the respective second set of fields for each field of the predefined plurality of fields; and

updating the confidence value based on the comparisons.

5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , further comprising:

determining, for at least one field of the predefined plurality of fields, one or both of the first set of fields and the respective second set of fields do not include a value for the at least one field of the predefined plurality of fields; and

applying, for the at least one field of the predefined plurality of fields, a predefined penalty factor to the confidence value.

6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 4 ,

wherein the predefined plurality of fields comprises one or more alphanumeric fields, and

wherein comparing the corresponding values of the first set of fields and of the respective second set of fields comprises determining a normalized Levenshtein distance of the corresponding values.

7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 4 ,

wherein the predefined plurality of fields comprises one or more temporal fields, and

wherein comparing the corresponding values of the first set of fields and of the respective second set of fields comprises applying a step-wise function to determine a likelihood of the corresponding values being associated with a same event.

8 . A computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied therewith, the computer-readable program code executable by one or more computer processors to perform an operation comprising:

receiving, in real-time, through a network, from a first data source, information for a flight object comprising a first set of fields and corresponding values that describe information for a first aircraft flight;

in response to receiving a request from a client, retrieving one or more global identifier records from a global identifier database, each global identifier record comprising a unique global identifier for a respective aircraft flight and a respective second set of fields and corresponding values of the global identifier database that describe the respective aircraft flight;

calculating, based on a comparison of the first set of fields with some or all of the one or more respective second sets of fields, a respective confidence value for each pairing of the flight object with a respective one of the one or more global identifier records; and

updating, when a calculated confidence value exceeds a threshold value, the global identifier record corresponding to the calculated confidence value using information from the first set of fields.

9 . The computer program product of claim 8 , the operation further comprising:

determining whether the information for the flight object was previously recorded in a first table of the global identifier database corresponding to the first data source; and

when the information for the flight object was not previously recorded, recording the information for the flight object in the first table.

10 . The computer program product of claim 8 , the operation, further comprising:

receiving, in real time, through the network, from a second data source, information for a second flight object corresponding to the first aircraft flight;

recording information for the second flight object in a second table of the global identifier database corresponding to the second data source; and

updating the global identifier record corresponding to the first aircraft flight using the information for the second flight object.

11 . The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein calculating the respective confidence value for each pairing comprises:

initializing the confidence value to an initial value;

comparing, for each field of a predefined plurality of fields, the corresponding values of the first set of fields and of the respective second set of fields for each field of the predefined plurality of fields; and

updating the confidence value based on the comparisons.

12 . The computer program product of claim 11 , the operation further comprising:

determining, for at least one field of the predefined plurality of fields, one or both of the first set of fields and the respective second set of fields do not include a value for the at least one field of the predefined plurality of fields; and

applying, for the at least one field, a predefined penalty factor to the confidence value.

13 . The computer program product of claim 11 ,

wherein the predefined plurality of fields comprises one or more alphanumeric fields, and

wherein comparing the corresponding values of the first set of fields and of the respective second set of fields comprises determining a normalized Levenshtein distance of the corresponding values.

14 . The computer program product of claim 11 ,

wherein the predefined plurality of fields comprises one or more temporal fields, and

wherein comparing the corresponding values of the first set of fields and of the respective second set of fields comprises applying a step-wise function to determine a likelihood of the corresponding values being associated with a same event.

15 . A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors enable performance of an operation comprising:

receiving, in real time, through a network, from a first data source, information for a flight object comprising a first set of fields and corresponding values that describe information for a first aircraft flight;

in response to receiving a request from a client, retrieving one or more global identifier records from a global identifier database, each global identifier record comprising a unique global identifier for a respective aircraft flight and a respective second set of fields and corresponding values of the global identifier database that describe the respective aircraft flight;

calculating, based on a comparison of the first set of fields with some or all of the one or more respective second sets of fields, a respective confidence value for each pairing of the flight object with a respective one of the one or more global identifier records; and

updating, when a calculated confidence value exceeds a threshold value, the global identifier record corresponding to the calculated confidence value using information from the first set of fields.

16 . The system of claim 15 , the operation further comprising:

determining whether the information for the flight object was previously recorded in a first table of the global identifier database corresponding to the first data source; and

when the information for the flight object was not previously recorded, recording the information for the flight object in the first table.

17 . The system of claim 15 , the operation further comprising:

receiving, in real-time, through the network, from a second data source, information for a second flight object corresponding to the first aircraft flight;

recording information for the second flight object in a second table of the global identifier database corresponding to the second data source; and

updating the global identifier record corresponding to the first aircraft flight using the information for the second flight object.

18 . The system of claim 15 , wherein calculating the respective confidence value for each pairing comprises:

initializing the confidence value to an initial value;

comparing, for each field of a predefined plurality of fields, the corresponding values of the first set of fields and of the respective second set of fields for each field of the predefined plurality of fields; and

updating the confidence value based on the comparisons.

19 . The system of claim 18 , the operation further comprising:

determining, for at least one field of the predefined plurality of fields, one or both of the first set of fields and the respective second set of fields do not include a value for the at least one field of the predefined plurality of fields; and

applying, for the at least one field of the predefined plurality of fields, a predefined penalty factor to the confidence value.

20 . The system of claim 18 ,

wherein the predefined plurality of fields comprises one or more alphanumeric fields and one or more temporal fields,

wherein comparing the corresponding values of the first set of fields and of the respective second set of fields comprises determining a normalized Levenshtein distance of the corresponding values for the one or more alphanumeric fields, and

wherein comparing the corresponding values of the first set of fields and of the respective second set of fields comprises applying a step-wise function to determining a likelihood of the corresponding values being associated with a same event for the one or more temporal fields.