The main search screen is no frills. Simply start typing and "autocomplete" options will appear giving you a sense of what other searchers are looking for, and what is available.

Google's Datasets Search tool (launched for beta testing in September 2018) is now out of Beta and helps you search close to 25 million different publicly available data sets.

Affectionately called "Google Scholar for data” by Google staffers, Google's Datasets Search is a search engine across metadata for millions of datasets in thousands of repositories across the Web.  It covers all topics from many countries and is part of Google's plan to make it easier for researchers in all fields to discover open datasets and to "foster an open data ecosystem."

If you are curious about the technology behind Google Dataset Search check out this article from Google AI Blog.  

Among other things, the article notes that the new search tool attempts to rank datasets found in a search for relevance, but states that: "Because there are no large-scale studies on how users search for datasets, as a first approximation, we rely on Google Web ranking. However, ranking datasets is different from ranking Web pages, and we add some additional signals that take into account the metadata quality, citations, and so on. As Dataset Search gets used more by our users and we understand better how users search for datasets, we hope that ranking will improve significantly."

But then again, maybe you just want to find data.  If you've used Google's Datasets Search tool before, none of this may be news, but with the latest release, Dataset Search will have a mobile version and a few new features you may be interested in:

1. The first of these is a new filter that lets you choose which type of data set you want to see (tables, images, text, etc.), designed to make it easier it easier to find the data you’re looking for. Use these to "limit" the results of your initial search to get just what you need. 

2. Second, you'll see a "scrollable" summary of suggested/related datasets on the left-hand side.  Note: This list could be long depending on how generic your initial search was!  It is also bound to grow as the database grows.

3. Finally, you'll see fairly robust information about the organization that published the dataset, what it contains, and how to access it.

Happy data set searching and if you have any questions or need support don't forget to contact the VDOT Research Library!

Ken Winter
(434) 962-8979
VDOT Research Library

Check out the VDOT Library's New Guide to VTRC and VDOT participation in TRB 2020!

Visit this guide to TRB 2020 presentations by VTRC/VDOT employees to see some of the amazing transportation research, innovations and best practices going on at state DOTs - especially VDOT!
 

The guide breaks down key presentations day by day, as well as details about important changes to the way TRB is making Annual Meeting Content available this year.

For the 2020 Annual Meeting, TRB will NO LONGER continue the practice of providing full papers presented at the Annual Meeting. This is the result of concerns expressed for years by authors that papers that were accepted for presentation at the Annual Meeting but rejected for publication in the TRR Journal were being rejected for publication in other journals on the basis that inclusion in AM Online constituted previous publication.

VDOT Employees seeking help with access to 2020 Annual Meeting content (or help with accessing any TRB papers or materials) should contact the VDOT Research Library directly with your questions.

Need a TRB paper from the Annual Meeting before 2017?  

The library has you covered for TRB Conference Proceedings going back to 1998, with one of the most complete collections of TRB publications in the country, including early conference proceedings papers in print, CD-ROM, DVD and on flash drives.

Whether it is in print, CD, DVD, flash drive or Online Portal/Interactive Program, the Library's Document Delivery Service can find what you need and send it at your request.  Simply fill out this Online Request Form. 

After all, our job is to help you do your job.

Gil Kenner
Gilbert.Kenner@VDOT.Virginia.gov
434-293-1926