Google Squared: Structuring Web Data One Square at a Time
by Dana Venne ~ July 30th, 2009 |
A few weeks ago, my fiancé and I decided to move the date of our wedding up from April 2010 to September 2009. I have absolutely no idea how to put a wedding together, so I’ve obviously turned to my dear old friend the Internet to find some answers… quickly.
I find myself searching for lists of this and that on a daily basis. Take for instance my bridal quest for the perfect flowers – I’d like to find a list of flower types with a photo and some additional information. Enter Google Squared!
Google Squared is a product that allows users to research information quickly and efficiently by offering a neatly packaged online spreadsheet that pulls information from multiple webpages in response to search queries. So, when I search “flowers,” I receive a comprehensive list of just about every blossom on Earth, which also includes an image, description, genus, order and kingdom. I don’t need the last three tidbits of information, but I do want to know the seasonality of the flowers as it will help me to stay within my wedding budget to use Fall flowers. So, I simply type “season” in the add columns field and can get rid of the unnecessary columns if I choose.
