We are living in a data-centric age. Everyone is on the move to discover
data, no matter how small it may be. The good news is there are
thousands of data sources on the internet where anyone can go and
extract data. These repositories provide free access to data from
governments, private and public organizations. However, accessing and
even using such data is not always a smooth ride, especially when you
are dealing with thousands of data at a time.
Google Dataset Search
To make the task of accessing data repositories easier, Google has launched a new tool known as Dataset Search.
This is a tool that scientists, geeks, journalists, and other people
can use to find the exact data that they are looking for to back up
their work.
The working mechanism of Dataset Search is quite similar to that of Google Scholar.
It gives you the power to find datasets from whichever locations they
are hosted. This can be from the organization’s website or from the
personal website of an individual who published the data.
In order to facilitate a seamless access of dataset, Google has created a set of guidelines
which dataset providers can use to make their data accessible to Google
search. The search engine should be able to understand the content of
their data. Some of this information include:
- A brief information about the data
- The creator of the data
- The person who collected the data
- The methods that were used during data collection
- The date when it was published
- The terms for using the data
Using the above information, Google will analyze the data and collect
a set of different versions of the same dataset that may be existing on
the internet. It uses the schema.org standard which is an open standard
for describing data on the internet. Data providers are encouraged to
use the same standard to describe their data.
A Variety of References
Dataset Search provides a wide source of references of any given
dataset that it has collected. Although environmental and social
sciences are some of the main sources of references, governments and
news organizations are also the main sources of data. The fact that most
of more data repositories are embracing the use of schema.org standard
to describe their data means that Dataset Search is able to access lots
of data at any given time. This also gives room for the growth of this
tool.
Dataset Search is multilingual. There are plans to incorporate more
languages into the tool. It also has a user-friendly interface making it
easy to use. You simply need to type the information that you are
looking for and the rest of the job will be done for you.
The launch of Dataset Search is one of the recent moves that Google
has been making to improve the accessibility of data. Unlike other
initiatives that focused on particular groups of people, Dataset Search
targets a broader audience. It will be of great use to anyone who is
looking for critical data from governments and news outlets. However,
the availability of data depends on the metadata that the publishers
provide.
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