A while back, I wrote for some time on this blog about 'data engines' - search engines dedicated to online (statistical) data sets. These included
- BuzzData (now closed, transmogrified into LookBookHQ)
- datacollective.org
- Timetric
- Socrata
- Google Correlate
- Zanran
- DataMarket
- EidoSearch
- and d8taplex
It is fascinating to see how many of these (almost all) are still in business and how rich their online experiences and product suites have become.
Now, there is another site to add to the list of data engines: Quandl.Quandl offers search over 8 Million data sets. A search brings up a results page with a list of data sets, related topics and relevant sources. For example, a search for 'french unemployment' brings up the following:
From here, the user can drill down to a specific data set and get the usual interactions with time series graphs, downloading of data sets, etc. The graphing tool allows a number of modifications (e.g. raw data, % change, etc.).
There isn't much on the site about the history of the company, but the wayback machine tells me that the root URL was first archived in April 2012. Whois tells me the domain was registered in 2012.
To fill in some history Matthew:
2010: programmed wikiposit.org in my basement
2011: formed Quandl Inc to take wikiposit.org to "the next level"
2012: programmed Quandl. alpha release in October-ish 2012
2013: beta launched Quandl.com in January
now: working hard to simplify contribution process so that we can grow the contributor base.
Posted by: TEKamel | December 25, 2013 at 02:40 PM