Friday, June 1. 2007

Newsflash: "80% per cent of online information includes a geographic element"

PCPro covers Google Developer Day held yesterday worldwide. I found this paragraph interesting.

Other points raised in the keynote were the claim that 80% per cent of online information includes a geographic element, hence the importance of mapping to Google as it bids to organise the world's data. It is not all explicit mapping data - in terms of latitude and longitude - but involves the location of particular people, objects or services.

Ok, so, now we have ancedotal info that of all data 80% has a geographic compenent and now Chris DiBona, Google's Open Source Program Manager, speaking at the London event, claims that's true of online information. Google might be able to back that up; it'd be nice if they did so we can quote it with confidence.

Also, consider, "It is not all explicit mapping data." Indeed. That's why when I first met the MetaCarta guys I wondered (and did again when I saw them last week) why Google has not yet acquired the company. (I got mostly smiles as a response.) Now, I have to believe other companies, even Google, are trying to do what MetaCarta does - identify, extract and geocode location in unstructured text. This is pretty specialized stuff from what I understand and is finding a market in petrolem and the public sector. I believe it's a key component to Google's goal to "organise the world's data." (See my coverage who's using MetaCarta technology and how here.)