Data and More Data: A Busy Seven Months at Wolfram|Alpha
One of the big "winners" of 2009 was Wolfram|Alpha. It has quickly become an almanac and a calculator rolled into one. They've also done a good job with practical blog posts about detailing how to use their data in "real world" situations.
Yesterday, "Alpha" posted a review of some of what has taken place since they launched in May. Its quite extensive and shows that "Alpha" is more than an online calculator. Don't get us wrong, it is a powerful calculator but it also has a growing number of applications at the reference desk.
Make sure to read the blog post to review all of the material that has been added since W|A launched.
Here are 10 Items From the Blog Post that We Think Will be of Greatest Interest:
Our physical exercise calculator may be one of Wolfram|Alpha’s most useful new additions, allowing users to compute energy expenditure, fat loss, and oxygen consumption for dozens of different activities, from running to rowing
We’ve added carbon footprint data, providing information about the carbon footprint of various activities such as heating our homes or taking a road trip
We had a massive amount of astronomical data when we first launched Wolfram|Alpha, but over the summer and fall we added a great number of solar system features, including maps of planets, data about craters of planets and moons, and detailed information about Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.
Wolfram|Alpha now has data on primary (baby) and adult teeth—with physical attributes and developmental details for each individual tooth.
We recently completed a major effort to add information on medals and results for every Olympic event since 1896. Users can search for results by country, year, athlete, medal type, event, and practically any combination of the above.
Wolfram|Alpha users can now compare current housing price information for most U.S. cities, and also explore decades of historical data. In addition to specific data on housing prices, Wolfram|Alpha has added ACCRA Cost of Living Index data for hundreds of U.S. cities and urban areas. You can compare the relative costs of groceries, housing, health care, transportation, and utilities in different cities, or find out what salary would be required to maintain a comparable standard of living if you moved to a new city.
Wolfram|Alpha can now show and compare military information—such as troop strengths, expenditures, selected armaments, and nuclear stockpiles—for most nations of the world.
Wolfram|Alpha now contains salary data for virtually any occupation in the U.S., with state-level detail; we’re currently adding city- and metropolitan-area-level data, and improving our presentation of occupational categories, based on information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For anyone interested in broadcast media, Wolfram|Alpha can now answer questions about major television networks—allowing you to compare reach, affiliates, and other properties.
We’ve continued to add more basic reference material, including the ability to find the location of an area code or specific telephone number, as well as international calling codes.
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