Google launched a new initiative to take public data currently hidden from even the most savvy Web users and make it easily available via search. Its first example, noted on its blog, lets users more easily track and view unemployment stats. Users simply search for, say Massachusetts unemployment, on Google.com, and the first result is a graph of the current statistics. When users click on the graph, Google sends them to an interactive chart, where they can compare and contrast unemployment statistics, not only from state to state, but also county to county. (One caveat: Don’t be too particular in your initial search query–for example, searching on Massachusetts unemployment 2009–or the graph result won’t appear.)
The new search feature is based on technology Google acquired when it bought Trendalyzer two years ago, and it should help out the Obama administration in its initiative to make public information more widely accessible. In addition to the current labor and census data, Google plans to widen the tool to enable searches on almost all public data:
The data we’re including in this first launch represents just a small fraction of all the interesting public data available on the web. There are statistics for prices of cookies, CO2 emissions, asthma frequency, high school graduation rates, bakers’ salaries, number of wildfires, and the list goes on.
For more, view Google’s YouTube video explaining the process.
* * *
Like this post? Visit the Google Subnet home page for more news, blogs and podcasts.
More blog posts from Google Subnet:
Microsoft miss goes beyond Q1 earnings
StreetView not a privacy threat, U.K. group rules
Google adds Profiles to search in monopoly-like move
Google adds nation-building to its resume
Quiz: Are you a Google expert?
Sign up for the weekly Google newsletter. (Click on News/Google News Alert.)
