The many layers of data lineage. What can we learn from google maps to…

Having a map showing how data evolves from its sources to its destination is the dream of any organisation. Like the gold rush, everyone is after that tool connecting together columns, tables and dashboards within the warehouse. But like gold, this visualisation has been always considered a privilege in the data ecosystem. Defining the lineage has been a manual task not accessible to everyone. Usually, only the ones working daily with the data transformation processes are aware of the actual flow of data -- and typically this lineage is a mix between what's in their minds, documented information and digging into different tools' metadata.