Google Is Testing A Wikipedia-Driven Interactive Knowledge Graph For Historical Queries
You must have noticed Google is rolling out new search features, which make it increasingly easier to find relevant information. For example, if a search query 'Game of Thrones characters' and cast used to give regular search results with IMDB being one of the top ones, now the result page looks like this:
Likewise, there are plenty of useful tricks you might have skipped noticing, so we encourage you take a look at our list - it may make your search work a tad easier.
Now, we might be looking at yet another improvement coming from Google. Namely, the historical queries. Let us take a look at how the search results look now:
Below is a screenshot of what it might become in an indefinite, but hopefully nearest, future:
Florian Kiersch is a Google Chrome and web search enthusiast who has been working on this improvement codenamed Knowledge Graph tool, which is designed to generate historical timelines automatically tapping into Wikipedia content. It will work for largely known historical events with ample information in Wikipedia, obviously.
Now, the new tool is currently in its early testing stages, and as you can see the design goes completely out of sync with Google's material looks, but clearly, it's not the final version. We do not know when this feature will come out of testing, and when or if Google chooses to roll it out, but it looks promising and very helpful. Kiersch says if the feature is added, it won't be very soon, so we might have to wait at least three months more.
Watch the timeline do its magic in a video Kiersch uploaded to his G+ profile page, where he showcases how the timeline would work for different searches - people's biographies, Google's own company history, as well as historic events on the example of WW I.
The main perks of the Knowledge Graph is you will see a layered timeline, which will give you the possibility to click-and-drag to go forward or backward in time, zooming in on events. If you zoom out, you will be able to see large-scale events, for example, a life span of a country or its leader.
If you point your cursor to one of the entries, you will see a small photo with a brief description of a person or event, alongside the exact date of the event highlighted on the timeline. If you should choose to click on that event, you will be taken to another Google SERP with yet another timeline to navigate particularly for that subject.
This kind of feature has a huge potential to revolutionize the entire market based on search results because it would effectively reduce the number of results a user would click to view information, weeding out everything but a few lucky ones like Wikipedia, IMDb and the likes that occupy the top spots now. Will it make our youth better educated and knowledgeable on major historic events? Hardly. And with the new EU legislation and the 'right to be forgotten' ruling, we might be looking at entire nations willing to forget their history alongside less significant cases of politicians running for crucial positions wiping out their 'crimes of youth'. Indeed, George Orwell saw too many monstrosities coming.
Sources: Florian Kiersch, Android Police
