Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Google Public Data Onebox

Google has launched a new statistics answer feature in their search results, pulled from public data, as the Google blog explains. For instance, you can enter unemployment rate california and find a chart based on data by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a bit next to it reading “11.5% of the labor force - Not seasonally adjusted - Mar 2009”. From there, you can click through to a bigger chart that lets you select other US states to compare.

Another example query that triggers the onebox is supposed to be population california, but the onebox didn’t always show for me (perhaps it’s still rolling out, and it depends on which data centers you hit?). Google adds, “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.” Ionut Chitu comments that this is an interesting timing, “On the same day when Stephen Wolfram shows a demonstration of his knowledge engine Wolfram | Alpha”.

[Hat tip to Manoj!]

Google Public Data Onebox by Philipp Lenssen | Comments (9)

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