SlidingWindows for slow data (big intervals) on Apache Beam

Question

I am working with Chicago Traffic Tracker dataset, where new data is published every 15 minutes. When new data is available, it represents records off by 10-15 minutes from the "real time" (example, look for _last_updt).

For example, at 00:20, I get data timestamped 00:10; at 00:35, I get from 00:20; at 00:50, I get from 00:40. So the interval that I can get new data "fixed" (every 15 minutes), although the interval on timestamps change slightly.

I am trying to consume this data on Dataflow (Apache Beam) and for that I am playing with Sliding Windows. My idea is to collect and work on 4 consecutive datapoints (4 x 15min = 60min), and ideally update my calculation of sum/averages as soon as a new datapoint is available. For that, I've started with the code:

PCollection<TrafficData> trafficData = input        
    .apply("MapIntoSlidingWindows", Window.<TrafficData>into(
        SlidingWindows.of(Duration.standardMinutes(60)) // (4x15)
            .every(Duration.standardMinutes(15))) .     // interval to get new data
        .triggering(AfterWatermark
                        .pastEndOfWindow()
                        .withEarlyFirings(AfterProcessingTime.pastFirstElementInPane()))
        .withAllowedLateness(Duration.ZERO)
        .accumulatingFiredPanes());

Unfortunately, looks like when I receive a new datapoint from my input, I do not get a new (updated) result from the GroupByKey that I have after.

Is this something wrong with my SlidingWindows? Or am I missing something else?

Answer 1

One issue may be that the watermark is going past the end of the window, and dropping all later elements. You may try giving a few minutes after the watermark passes:

PCollection<TrafficData> trafficData = input        
    .apply("MapIntoSlidingWindows", Window.<TrafficData>into(
        SlidingWindows.of(Duration.standardMinutes(60)) // (4x15)
            .every(Duration.standardMinutes(15))) .     // interval to get new data
        .triggering(AfterWatermark
                        .pastEndOfWindow()
                        .withEarlyFirings(AfterProcessingTime.pastFirstElementInPane())
                        .withLateFirings(AfterProcessingTime.pastFirstElementInPane()))
        .withAllowedLateness(Duration.standardMinutes(15))
        .accumulatingFiredPanes());

Let me know if this helps at all.