Google Public Data Explorer
Google Public Data Explorer
Compiling commonly used government statistics can be a tedious process. I was excited to discover a new Google product that makes it a snap…Google Public Data Explorer. http://www.google.com/publicdata/home The application is still in Google Labs, their playground for products under development, but it shows real promise. Data sets are limited at this point, but new choices are being added.
Guided by the most frequent queries for information of this type, Google tapped into statistics from agencies including the World Bank, Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and Centers for Disease Control. Featured are a variety of metrics relating to population, employment, GDP and personal income, world development indicators, cancer rates, and others. Most can be broken down into subsets for further analysis.
Here is the result of a query comparing the trend in unemployment for the metro New Orleans area to the nation as a whole. http://bit.ly/av4WH4 Creating the entire graph required less than a minute, including adjustments to the time period displayed. Note the Katrina related spike.
This example shows how various states compare on cancer rates: http://bit.ly/9bW64j I had no idea that Maine led the nation!
The tool has nice features. Data may be displayed as a line graph, bar chart, map, or bubble diagram. There is the option to export for incorporation into a web site or e-mail. (Although Wordpress does not support the snippet currently generated; hence the links above.) And if desired, the saved query automatically updates as new data is added.
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