expertSEM

Google launched a new Labs tool called, Google Public Data Explorer, which allows you to analyze large amounts of public data on popular search topics using colorful and pretty visual representations. The charts and maps created through Public Data Explorer can easily be changed to represent different time periods.

The charts and maps created by the new tool are great for interactive marketers as they simplify data, making it easy to evaluate for use in campaign optimization and easy to communicate findings to clients or other interested parties. Say you have a client that provides alternative treatments for cancer. You can use the data to determine which, if any, geographic locations have a higher incidence of this cancer. Then you can geo-target your campaigns to those specific locations in an effort to reach a more qualified audience.

The data is provided by the World Bank, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, Eruostat, California Department of Education and more. Currently, there are 80 different topics in the tool (I’m not sure if cancer incidence is actually one of the data sets, that was a simply an example of how it might be used). Charts can be made into line graphs, bar graphs, world maps or bubble charts, and you can select specific time frames of data.