Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Google Squared - For Complex Searches


Some information is easy to find. If you want to learn the chess rules, you Google for "chess rules" and Google will return a list of relevant web sites right at the top. But not all your information needs are that simple. Answers to some questions can be more complex, requiring you to visit ten to twenty websites to research and collect what you need.


For example, you are searching for various information on roller coasters such as which ones are the tallest, fastest, and have the most loops. Finding this information can be tedious job and will take lots of your time. Because you have to use multiple searches and you would rather find roller coaster sizes on one website, heights on another, and speeds on a third.


But with Google Squared one can easily get answers to their complex searches. Google Squared is an experimental search tool that collects facts from the web and presents them in an organized collection, similar to a spreadsheet. If you search for "roller coasters", Google Squared builds a square with rows for each of several specific roller coasters and columns for corresponding facts, such as image, height and maximum speed.


If you click on any fact, you'll see the sources Google Squared gathered it from as well as a list of other possible values that you can investigate. So even if your square isn't perfect at the beginning, it's easy to work with Google Squared to get a better answer in no time. Once you've got a square you're happy with, you can save it and come back to it later.
To give Google Squared a whirl, try searching for "planets" or "romantic movies". You can try out Google Squared now in Google Labs.

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