links for 2010-05-20


  • BigQuery is a web service that enables you to do interactive analysis of massively large datasets. Scalable and easy to use, BigQuery lets developers and businesses tap into powerful data analytics on demand.
  • Freebase Gridworks is a power tool that allows you to load data, understand it, clean it up, reconcile it internally, augment it with data coming from Freebase, and optionally contribute your data to Freebase for others to use. All in the comfort and privacy of your own computer.
  • Django-nonrel is a port of Django with the goal of supporting non-relational databases. You should subscribe to the Django-nonrel blog for the latest news and tutorials.
  • CloudCourse is a course scheduling system.

    Built entirely on App Engine, CloudCourse allows anyone to create and track learning activities. It also offers calendaring, waitlist management and approval features.

    CloudCourse is fully integrated with Google Calendar and can be further customized for your organization with the following service provider interfaces (replaceable components):

    * Sync service – to sync CloudCourse data with your internal systems
    * Room info service – to schedule classes in your locations
    * User info service – to look up user profile (employee title, picture, etc)

    CloudCourse has been developed in Python, using the Django web application framework and the Closure Javascript library.

  • The Closure Library is a broad, well-tested, modular, and cross-browser JavaScript library. You can pull just what you need from a large set of reusable UI widgets and controls, and from lower-level utilities for DOM manipulation, server communication, animation, data structures, unit testing, rich-text editing, and more.

    The Closure Library is server-agnostic, and is intended for use with the Closure Compiler. At Google, it's used in Gmail, Docs, Sites, Books, Reader, Blogger, Calendar, Picasa Web Albums, and more

  • The Google Directions Web Service is a service that calculates directions between locations using an HTTP request. Directions may specify origins, destinations and waypoints either as text strings (e.g. "Chicago, IL" or "Darwin, NSW, Australia") or as latitude/longitude coordinates. The Directions web service can return multi-part directions using a series of waypoints.

    This service is generally designed for calculating directions for static (known in advance) addresses for placement of application content on a map; this service is not designed to respond in real time to user input, for example. For dynamic directions calculations (for example, within a user interface element), consult the documentation for the JavaScript API V3 Directions Service.

    Calculating directions is a time and resource intensive task. Whenever possible, calculate known addresses ahead of time (using the web service described here) and store your results in a temporary cache of your own design.

  • The Google Places Web Service is a service that returns information about a "place" (hereafter referred to as a Place) — defined within this API as an establishment, a geographic location, or prominent point of interest — using an HTTP request. Place requests specify locations as latitude/longitude coordinates.

    Two basic Place requests are available: a Place Search request and a Place Details request. Generally, a Place Search request is used to return candidate matches, while a Place Details request returns more specific information about a Place.

    This service is designed for processing place requests generated by a user for placement of application content on a map; this service is not designed to respond to batch of offline queries, which are a violation of its terms of use.