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Last active August 29, 2015 14:20
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Cool examples of meta data on Google
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metadata-examples.md

Interesting examples of meta data by Google

  1. Etymology Charts -- when searching for the history of a word, using "etymology" as a keyword in the search, we are presented with a chart that shows interesting information about the word (in this case, 'crass'). For example, I immediately learn that it comes from 'crassus', Latin for 'thick or dense'. I see that it stems from the late 15th century. There is also a graph showing the usage over time from the 1850s, likely based on references in scanned literature (my guess). As a side note, it would be fascinating to see different charts normalized against things like population growth, printing technology improvements, or whether it was driven by a true cultural shift, like an influx in population from one region to another (or, into American cities like Cincinnati), or usage in a popular play (that can reach more people now due to printing press innovations and, later, music and video). But I digress.
  2. News articles inline -- this is one of the older usages that I can recall -- stemming also from the (now defunct?) Google News portal. You can see thumbnails, get a short summary, syndication source, etc.
  3. Historic person search -- 'Ada Lovelace' will result in a table on the right, showing birth / death dates, occupation, images, etc. This appears to be very similar to other similar searches, like Movie or Book. Which brings us to #4.
  4. Movies and Books -- same as Historic person search (general info, thumbnails) but also, there are references to any TV or Movie adaptation (if it's a book). And there's a link, front and center, where you can acquire this thing from the Google Play store (rent the movie, eread the book, etc).
  5. Local Weather -- A weather chart shows current weather, forecast, graphs for temperature over time, etc. Incredibly helpful. I often don't even continue beyond the search page most of the time, unless I need details.
  6. Flights -- maybe not a traditional use of meta data, but the flight app on Google is fascinating on its own.
  7. Maps -- similar to Flights, where it's basically just a snippet Google Maps, but it used to show flight info under the driving directions (which has since moved to its own section)
  8. Locations -- meta data is pulled from a variety of sources for local restaurants
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