Google Labs just revealed Google Squared, shows how Google are continuing to evolve in the presentation of search results.

As we all know some information is easy to find but for some of the information we have no clue. Just for example: if you want to learn the rules of golf, you can search Google for [golf rules] and get a list of relevant web sites right at the top. Some questions can be more complex, requiring you to visit ten, perhaps twenty websites to research and collect what you need.

Lets consider another example, if someone is a big fan of roller coasters. He will definitely use Google to search for information about roller coasters, such as which ones are the tallest, fastest, and have the most loops. Finding this information used to take multiple searches — like finding the roller coaster sizes on one website, heights on another, and speeds on a third. By manually comparing the sites, one can get the information one is looking for but it is cumbersome .

Google Squared, a new feature just released in Google Labs, you can find my roller coaster facts almost instantly.

The Google announcement declares that ‘Google Squared is a search tool that helps you quickly build a collection of facts from the Web for any topic you specify:

  • Facts about your topic are organized as a table of items and attributes (we call them "Squares" for fun).
  • Customize these Squares to see just the items and attributes you’re interested in.
  • See the websites that served as sources for the information in your Square.
  • Save and share Squares with others.’

Is it similar to Wolfram Alpha? Consider that roller coaster example.

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At the same time, this is what you get if you query Wolfram Alpha for ‘roller coasters’:

 

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Google Squared looks interesting though as it seems to be able to offer more stuctured results / sense from the masses of information that Google now indexes.