Online Tool Could Aid Global Collaboration

According to the website SciDev.Net, the internet company Google has launched a new online tool enabling free data-sharing that could aid with international scientific research collaborations.

The tool, called Fusion Tables, was launched on the Google Labs website as a free online data-sharing tool. It allows tables of data to be visualised as charts, graphs, and maps, designed to help identify patterns and trends. Users are able upload their data and make the information freely available to anyone worldwide, opening up possibilities for collaboration. Google engineers hope that sharing will add value to what is currently in data repositories.

Already using the tool are the following:

• The Pacific Institute, an environmental research organisation - Together with media network Circle of Blue, they have provided free international access to global freshwater data.
  
• ClimateWizard - a collaboration between The Nature Conservancy, the University of Washington, and the University of Southern Mississippi - has uploaded data on global climate change predictions.
  
• The Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) may contribute information to the tool in the future.

According to Alon Halevy, Senior Engineer at Google Labs, education is a key area for application of the accumulated data: "I think Fusion Tables is a great tool for teachers in the classroom to let students investigate their own data, integrate it or fuse it with data from other places, and make the data come alive by visualising it on maps." He recommends the use of the tool applied to teaching in developing countries.