Public Data Explorer - Google Labs

Google Labs recently released their Public Data Explorer. You can create charts and visualizations with public data sets. I created the examples below from data provided by the World Bank. The amount of data provided by the World Bank is impressive.

[googleapps domain="www" dir="publicdata/explore/embed" query="ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&ctype=l&met_y=it_net_user_p2&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=country&idim=country:USA:GBR:JPN:IND:KOR:BRA&tdim=true&tstart=631152000000&tunit=Y&tlen=18&hl=en_US&dl=en_US" width="400" height="325" /]

[googleapps domain="www" dir="publicdata/explore/embed" query="ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&ctype=c&met_y=it_net_user_p2&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&idim=country:HUN:GAB:NLD:TUR&ifdim=country&pit=1199145600000&hl=en_US&dl=en_US" width="400" height="325" /]

[googleapps domain="www" dir="publicdata/explore/embed" query="ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&ctype=b&met_s=it_net_user_p2&scale_s=lin&ind_s=false&met_y=it_net_user_p2&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&met_x=it_net_user_p2&scale_x=lin&ind_x=false&idim=country:USA:KOR&ifdim=country&pit=1199145600000&hl=en_US&dl=en_US" width="400" height="325" /]

[googleapps domain="www" dir="publicdata/explore/embed" query="ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&ctype=m&met_s=it_net_user_p2&scale_s=lin&ind_s=false&idim=country:USA:GBR&ifdim=country&pit=1199145600000&hl=en_US&dl=en_US&mapType=t" width="400" height="325" /]

In my opinion, the animated map and bubble views need some work, but it is a beta so I will cut Google some slack.

In addition to data from the World Bank, they have data from the California Department of Education, U.S. Census Bureau, Eurostat and more. Researchers and teachers alike may find Public Data Explorer very useful. So, give it a test drive. FYI: You can embed your charts into a webpage or blog (like the examples above), which are updated automatically so the data is current. I will also be adding this new tool to the Cloud Apps page .