International Journal of Computer Engineering and Technology (IJCET), ISSN 0976 – 6367(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6375(Online) Volume 3, Issue 1, January- June (2012), © IAEME 1 AN ANALYSIS OF DATA MINING: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE R. Manickam Professor and Head, Department of Computer Science Rathinam College of Arts & Science, Coimbatore-21 D. Boominath Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, Rathinam College of Arts & Science, Coimbatore-21 V. Bhuvaneswari Assistant Prof, Department of Computer Science Rathinam College of Arts & Science, Coimbatore-21 buvanaviswanathan@gmail.com ABSTRACT Data and Information or Knowledge has a significant role on human activities. Data mining is the knowledge discovery process by analyzing the large volumes of data from various perspectives and summarizing it into useful information. Due to the importance of extracting knowledge/information from the large data repositories, data mining has become an essential component in various fields of human life. Advancements in Statistics, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Pattern Recognition and Computation capabilities have evolved the present day’s data mining applications and these applications have enriched the various fields of human life including business, education, medical, scientific etc. Hence, this paper discusses the various improvements in the field of data mining from past to the present and explores the future trends. Keywords Knowledge Discovery in Databases, Data Mining, Past Trends, Heterogeneous Data, Present Trends, Future Trends 1. INTRODUCTION The advent of information technology in various fields of human life has lead to the large volumes of data storage in various formats like records, documents, images, sound recordings, videos, scientific data, and many new data formats. The data collected from different applications require proper mechanism of extracting knowledge /information from large repositories for better decision making. Knowledge discovery in databases (KDD), often called data mining, aims at the discovery of useful International Journal of Computer Engineering and Technology (IJCET), ISSN 0976 – 6367(Print) ISSN 0976 – 6375(Online) Volume 3 Issue 1, January-June (2012), pp. 01-09 © IAEME, http://www.iaeme.com/ijcet.html IJCET © I A E M E