Blog
Tracking Hurricane Sandy with Google Autocomplete [UPDATED]
See UPDATE at 2:57pm
Google Autocomplete (formerly Suggest) is an effective algorithm to mine what people are Googling in almost real time. We’ll find out how real time it is as the storm progresses, but we are already seeing the locations that the storm is projected to hit in the result set – as south as Maryland, all the way up to Canada as show in the map below from the National Hurricane Center.
(NHC, 1:12pm EST, 11/28/2012)
Current Result Set from Google Autocomplete on Hurricane Sandy 10/28/2012, 1:25pm EST, NYC.
Result set from http://suggester.promediacorp.com/?lo=us&la=en&c=kprwpw&q=hurricane+sandy [“hook” & “point” filtered out)
Top 5 terms:
| hurricane sandy |
| hurricane sandy update |
| hurricane sandy projected path |
| hurricane sandy 2012 |
| hurricane sandy 2006 |
Current all :[locations have been bolded]
| 1 | hurricane sandy evacuations | ||
| 2 | hurricane sandy ontario | ||
| 3 | hurricane sandy jamaica | ||
| 4 | hurricane sandy long island | ||
| 5 | hurricane sandy radar | ||
| 6 | hurricane sandy boston | ||
| 7 | hurricane sandy nyc | ||
| 8 | hurricane sandy dc | ||
| 9 | hurricane sandy tracker | ||
| 10 | hurricane sandy video | ||
| 11 | hurricane sandy washington dc | ||
| 12 | hurricane sandy map | ||
| 13 | hurricane sandy satellite | ||
| 14 | hurricane sandy connecticut | ||
| 15 | hurricane sandy watch | ||
| 16 | hurricane sandy maryland | ||
| 17 | hurricane sandy school closings | ||
| 18 | hurricane sandy twitter | ||
| 19 | hurricane sandy philadelphia | ||
| 20 | hurricane sandy new york | ||
| 21 | hurricane sandy baltimore | ||
| 22 | hurricane sandy category | ||
| 23 | hurricane sandy delaware | ||
| 24 | hurricane sandy live | ||
| 25 | hurricane sandy cuba | ||
| 26 | hurricane sandy toronto | ||
| 27 | hurricane sandy brooklyn | ||
| 28 | hurricane sandy landfall | ||
| 29 | hurricane sandy new jersey | ||
| 30 | hurricane sandy latest news | ||
| 31 | hurricane sandy canada | ||
| 32 | hurricane sandy new york city | ||
As you can see from the list above, Google autocomplete is like a realtime trending topics. In the case of Hurricane Sandy, autocomplete is accumulating and ordering the locations from all news sources that people consume and later query.
The number of terms in autocomplete related to Sandy has quadrupled in under 24 hours. We have new terms that people are querying such as:
- Ways to track the storm- Twitter, Tunblr, Youtube, and the new hurricane tracker Google launched
- Images, videos, live coverage, timeline and radar.
- Damage, death toll, evacuation, projected path after aftermath.
- Conspiracies, Jokes, End of the World, new memes such as Grease and other offbeat.
- New local terms including Jersey Shore, Ocean City MD, Richmond VA, Outer Banks, Syracuse, Buffalo, Chicago, Michigan, Southern Ontario
Complete List:
| 1 | hurricane sandy path |
| 2 | hurricane sandy update |
| 3 | hurricane sandy tracker |
| 4 | hurricane sandy |
| 5 | hurricane sandy 2012 |
| 6 | hurricane sandy 2006 |
| 7 | hurricane sandy nyc |
| 8 | hurricane sandy evacuation |
| 9 | hurricane sandy virginia |
| 10 | hurricane sandy grease |
| 11 | hurricane sandy from space |
| 12 | hurricane sandy wiki |
| 13 | hurricane sandy landfall |
| 14 | hurricane sandy jokes |
| 15 | hurricane sandy atlantic city |
| 16 | hurricane sandy images |
| 17 | hurricane sandy map |
| 18 | hurricane sandy dc |
| 19 | hurricane sandy halifax |
| 20 | hurricane sandy ohio |
| 21 | hurricane sandy youtube |
| 22 | hurricane sandy zones |
| 23 | hurricane sandy category |
| 24 | hurricane sandy boston |
| 25 | hurricane sandy satellite |
| 26 | hurricane sandy radar |
| 27 | hurricane sandy meme |
| 28 | hurricane sandy connecticut |
| 29 | hurricane sandy twitter |
| 30 | hurricane sandy albany ny |
| 31 | hurricane sandy jersey city |
| 32 | hurricane sandy baltimore |
| 33 | hurricane sandy live |
| 34 | hurricane sandy washington dc |
| 35 | hurricane sandy damage |
| 36 | hurricane sandy in boston |
| 37 | hurricane sandy google |
| 38 | hurricane sandy video |
| 39 | hurricane sandy evacuation zones |
| 40 | hurricane sandy rhode island |
| 41 | hurricane sandy outer banks |
| 42 | hurricane sandy funny |
| 43 | hurricane sandy projected path |
| 44 | hurricane sandy new york |
| 45 | hurricane sandy status |
| 46 | hurricane sandy pictures |
| 57 | hurricane sandy jersey shore |
| 48 | hurricane sandy ocean city md |
| 49 | hurricane sandy long island |
| 50 | hurricane sandy vermont |
| 51 | hurricane sandy storm tracker |
| 52 | hurricane sandy new jersey |
| 53 | hurricane sandy timeline |
| 54 | hurricane sandy richmond va |
| 55 | hurricane sandy maryland |
| 56 | hurricane sandy watch |
| 57 | hurricane sandy end of the world |
| 58 | hurricane sandy florida |
| 59 | hurricane sandy in new york |
| 60 | hurricane sandy current location |
| 61 | hurricane sandy global warming |
| 62 | hurricane sandy brooklyn |
| 63 | hurricane sandy deaths |
| 64 | hurricane sandy footage |
| 65 | hurricane sandy virginia beach |
| 66 | hurricane sandy ontario |
| 67 | hurricane sandy jamaica |
| 68 | hurricane sandy tumblr |
| 69 | hurricane sandy maine |
| 70 | hurricane sandy rochester ny |
| 71 | hurricane sandy in new jersey |
| 72 | hurricane sandy syracuse |
| 73 | hurricane sandy location |
| 74 | hurricane sandy impact |
| 75 | hurricane sandy ottawa |
| 76 | hurricane sandy philadelphia |
| 77 | hurricane sandy size |
| 78 | hurricane sandy live radar |
| 79 | hurricane sandy weather |
| 80 | hurricane sandy toronto |
| 81 | hurricane sandy flight cancellations |
| 82 | hurricane sandy massachusetts |
| 83 | hurricane sandy coverage |
| 84 | hurricane sandy route |
| 85 | hurricane sandy cape cod |
| 86 | hurricane sandy right now |
| 87 | hurricane sandy in north carolina |
| 88 | hurricane sandy manhattan |
| 89 | hurricane sandy photos |
| 90 | hurricane sandy weather channel |
| 91 | hurricane sandy storm surge |
| 92 | hurricane sandy latest news |
| 93 | hurricane sandy real time |
| 94 | hurricane sandy surf |
| 95 | hurricane sandy michigan |
| 96 | hurricane sandy live update |
| 97 | hurricane sandy in canada |
| 98 | hurricane sandy doppler |
| 99 | hurricane sandy waves |
| 100 | hurricane sandy pittsburgh |
| 101 | hurricane sandy chicago |
| 102 | hurricane sandy wind speed |
| 103 | hurricane sandy live video |
| 104 | hurricane sandy new york city |
| 105 | hurricane sandy montreal |
| 106 | hurricane sandy delaware |
| 107 | hurricane sandy in ontario |
| 108 | hurricane sandy pics |
| 109 | hurricane sandy strength |
| 110 | hurricane sandy conspiracy |
| 111 | hurricane sandy death toll |
| 112 | hurricane sandy west virginia |
| 113 | hurricane sandy current position |
| 114 | hurricane sandy live tracker |
| 115 | hurricane sandy north carolina |
| 116 | hurricane sandy path update |
| 117 | hurricane sandy satellite image |
| 118 | hurricane sandy power outages |
| 119 | hurricane sandy buffalo |
| 120 | hurricane sandy nasa |
| 121 | hurricane sandy live coverage |
| 122 | hurricane sandy canada |
| 123 | hurricane sandy southern ontario |
View the next post in this series – discoveries from the aftermath.