Traditional search engines direct you to web pages that may contain the information you want, rather than the actual information itself.
These Google tools are different because they look for the actual information you're searching for and present it to you in an organised format.
Google Squared is useful when you're researching a subject that has a lot of facts or figures associated with it. It creates a table with headings corresponding to the vital statistics associated with a given topic, and uses the web to fill in the data.
For example, if you make a Square by entering "top grossing movies", it's automatically filled with data such as release date, director and so on. You can add your own columns and Google will search the web to fill them.
If it isn't confident of the data found, a list of possible entries is displayed and you can click through to the sources and select the right one.
It's a great tool for product comparison, since it brings together information from lots of different sites.
Sometimes, Squared won't be able to find information to fill a heading you've devised and will give strange results, so experiment to get the best out of it.
1. A new Square
Head to Google Squared, enter a topic and click Square it. The buttons on the right enable you to save the Square to your Google account or share with others. You can also export to a Google Spreadsheet or CSV file.
2. Add columns
Click the Add Columns box to see a list of suggested column headings. You can type in your own headings and have Google attempt to retrieve the information. If this doesn't work, click "Start with an empty Square".
3. Possible values
Sometimes, Google Squared isn't confident of the data it finds, or it discovers more than one value. Click on a box to see the information it found and the websites it came from. You can then select the one you believe is correct.
4. Add to your Square
You can include data about more than one subject in a Square. This works best if the topics share similar properties, such as a Square about netbooks and lightweight notebooks. Type in the search bar and click "Add to Square".
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First published in PCAnswers Issue 208
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Your comments (3) Click to add a new comment
johnadam
March 9th 2010
3. Google squared is definitely interesting. However I don't see much value beyond some academic interest. I rather like Zahdoo.com search graph approach where you get to see the information organized by tags/topics.
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dashriprock2
March 7th 2010
2. Hi,
I developed a more advanced version years ago. The first version came out about nine years ago and the current version is almost three years old. Google's version is faster and slicker. Mine is smarter. I also reward the user. I allow them to use this set as a search entity. The user can also build on the sets. There is a robust set of tools to aid the management of this information. The site is www.alexlib.info. It is a multidimensional library system.
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madmandan
March 7th 2010
1. This is funky, organised, you don't have to troll through numerous sites and you have it on one page. However I had a look at it and all the information comes from wikipedia, and who would bother to put information on there that they all ready know.
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