Google Timeline results graduates from Labs

google-timeline-results.jpg

Towards the start of last year, Google experimented with different ways to view search results in its “Experimental” section. They were evidently happy enough with one of them – Timeline – that it’s now appearing in some queries in the main results. Timeline allows you to browse results by when they were posted, or when they ocurred.

The picture above is for a search for “book of revelations”, though that search no longer displays the timeline. Perhaps Google is still tweaking it a little. I hope it stays, I rather like it, but it does beg the question – what’s next? Search by smell?

(via Search Engine Land)

Related posts: Google shows off 2008’s top searches | Kosmix.com – search, and crucially, context

Google showcases new experimental search views: map, timeline, info

google_experimental_labs.pngGoogle has announced a trio of new views for search results, currently in an experimental stage. They provide some useful alternatives to the bog standard “ten results per page” text links many Google users are most familiar with.

Combining Google Search with Google Maps unsurprisingly gives rise to the Map view, which will plot the key locations contained within a batch of search results on a map.

Great for a school project — a slapdash one at least — is the Timeline view, though this potentially needs to be taken as carefully as one would, or should, treat Wikipedia. It lists search results as usual, but plots a timeline graph along the top of the page, showing when things happened (according to the search results). Looks good for an overview of a person, a historical event, or a concept, which can lead to further study.