Cyber-physical-social system(CPSS) connects the cyber space,the physical space,and the social space,which has become a promising human-in-the-loop computing system.The unique features of CPSS from the data-centric level were characterized,including the interweaving of spatio-temporal data,the fusion of cross-space data and the collaboration of human and machine intelligence.Furthermore,a general framework for data-centric CPSS was built,with the underpinnings such as resource management,collaborative sensing,data pre-processing,data fusion,and privacy protection.Finally,the major application areas of data-centric CPSS (e.g.,civic management,public safety,intelligent transportation,and business intelligence) and its future research directions were presented.