Google has launch a new aggregated search specialized in tracking "flu trends".
According to details on the Google Blog the Google team found that certain aggregated search queries tend to be very common during flu season each year. When compared to data provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), they found that there's a very close relationship between the frequency of these search queries and the number of people who are experiencing flu-like symptoms each week.
As a result, they have tallied each day's flu-related search queries, then create an estimate of how many people have a flu-like symptons. Based on that information they launched the new search aggregate, Google Flu Trends, where you can find up-to-date influenza-related activity estimates for each of the 50 states in the U.S.
For more details on how it works checkout the Google Flu Trends FAQs or visit the Official Google Blog.
My original concept for tracking flu season via data-mining using Google's data (from Aug 2005).
ReplyDeletehttp://www.realmeme.com/roller/page/realmeme?entry=google_gets_a_clue
Should I sue? :)