1. A method for sampling streaming data, which includes periodically updated information items, for real-time distribution on a network comprising: receiving the streaming data from a streaming data source; sampling the periodically updated information items of the streaming data using a sampling process based on update rates of the information items of the streaming data and a capacity of the network into which the data is to be distributed, thereby creating a sampled data stream; and distributing the sampled data stream on the network.