[FRIAM] Google Trends - plus an unexpected(?) result

Robert Cordingley robert at cirrillian.com
Wed Jul 5 16:36:39 EDT 2006


I noticed from Google Trends that:

"Google Trends calculates the ratio of searches for your term coming 
from each city divided by total Google searches coming from the same 
city. The city ranking you see on the page and the bar charts alongside 
each city name both represent this ratio. When cities' ratios are fairly 
close together, the corresponding bar graphs will be roughly the same 
length, and the exact ranking between these cities is less meaningful.

<>The Regions and Languages tabs work just like the Cities tab." (my 
emphases)

So the relative value of the bars has to be kept in mind.  One could 
fantasize their being one lone internet user (an expat) working in 
Tehran keeping in touch with folks at home.  But then on the other hand...

I tried adding other National Lab acronyms.  LANL (blue)  beats LLNL 
(red)  and PNNL(orange)  hands down in Iran.

Trend Chart


1. 	Iran 	



	 
2. 	United States 	



	 
3. 	India 	



	 
4. 	Switzerland 	



	 
5. 	Canada 	



	 
6. 	United Kingdom 	



	 
7. 	Italy 	



	 
8. 	France 	



	 
9. 	Australia 	



	 
10. 	Germany 	

Thanks
Robert C
www.cirrillian.com



Robert Holmes wrote:

> Google now offer a product called Google Trends 
> (http://www.google.com/trends) which aggregates peoples' searches by 
> city, region etc. It's been described as "a place holder for the 
> intentions of humankind — a massive database of desires, needs, wants, 
> and likes that can be discovered, subpoenaed, archived, tracked, and 
> exploited to all sorts of ends." (From the New York Times 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/05/business/05leonhardt.html?ex=1152763200&en=94404589c34afe7e&ei=5070&emc=eta1 
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/05/business/05leonhardt.html?ex=1152763200&en=94404589c34afe7e&ei=5070&emc=eta1>)
>
> Anyway, just for fun I type in LANL. The "Cities" tab gives the 
> expected results:
> 1. 	Los Alamos, NM, USA 	
>
> 	 
> 2. 	Livermore, CA, USA 	
>
> 	 
> 3. 	Santa Fe, NM, USA 	
>
> 	 
> 4. 	Oak Ridge, TN, USA 	
>
> 	 
> 5. 	Albuquerque, NM, USA 	
>
> 	 
>
> The "Regions" tab is altogether more intriguing.
> 1. 	Iran 	
>
> 	 
> 2. 	United States 	
>
> 	 
> 3. 	India 	
>
> 	 
>
>
>
> Time to call our friends at Homeland Security?
>
> Robert
>
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>
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