If you have been reading any of the blog posts here over the last year or so then you are familiar by now with the Alexa Web Search Platform. We've talked about the massive quantities and types of data available and we've even created some alternative vertical search engines as sample applications built on the platform.
While sample applications were useful demos of what's possible, some of our customers have asked, "Is it possible to build a real search engine using the platform?" It's a good question. So we gave it a shot and here's what we came up with.
Just type a search into the search box above. Search results are now provided by the Alexa Web Search Platform.
Let us know what you think.
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Thursday, September 21, 2006
Friday, September 01, 2006
Web Graphs and State Governments
I was doing some work with state government websites and began to wonder what the country would look like if the area of each state was proportional to the number of documents on its website. Luckily, some very smart people know how to create things like this map from the 2004 Election.
I used a cartogram generator called MAPspresso to make the following colorful pictures. For reference, I've included the original map as well.
As you can see, there are only a few states with really large websites: California, Washington, and Michigan are at the top of the list. Some small states (like Hawaii) really grow, becoming the size of Texas; while others (like Alaska) really feel the squeeze. The District of Columbia, which was allowed to join in the fun, is just as big as Maryland, both of which tower over the states around them. Missouri looks out of place as well, pushing out the eight states that surround it, except for Illinois.
Pulling this data from our Web Search Platform was a snap once I had a list of the sites that states use. This is no easy task! Most states use domains like ca.gov or missouri.gov but some use more exotic names as mirrors, such as www.state.tx.us or tennesseeanytime.org. (Poor Virginia lost va.gov to the Department of Veterans' Affairs.) The data I pulled takes all of these variations into account.
As one of my co-workers pointed out, the US sort of looks like a bug-eyed goldfish, swimming the sea of information. What do you see?
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I used a cartogram generator called MAPspresso to make the following colorful pictures. For reference, I've included the original map as well.
As you can see, there are only a few states with really large websites: California, Washington, and Michigan are at the top of the list. Some small states (like Hawaii) really grow, becoming the size of Texas; while others (like Alaska) really feel the squeeze. The District of Columbia, which was allowed to join in the fun, is just as big as Maryland, both of which tower over the states around them. Missouri looks out of place as well, pushing out the eight states that surround it, except for Illinois.
Pulling this data from our Web Search Platform was a snap once I had a list of the sites that states use. This is no easy task! Most states use domains like ca.gov or missouri.gov but some use more exotic names as mirrors, such as www.state.tx.us or tennesseeanytime.org. (Poor Virginia lost va.gov to the Department of Veterans' Affairs.) The data I pulled takes all of these variations into account.
As one of my co-workers pointed out, the US sort of looks like a bug-eyed goldfish, swimming the sea of information. What do you see?
Comments - Permalink
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