For a long time Google left doc spreadsheets users without a powerful data editing tool that could rival the features that long caused the ubiquitous usage of Microsoft Excel.
That factor changed last fall when Google quietly rolled out Google Refine, an app that can be download from the Google Code site (See here for the introductory video) Developed by Metaweb, which Google acquired in July 2010, the tool is meant to fetch associated information and translated pasted text into a workable table. This convenience eases the need to manipulate data and saves time in making functional appearance corrections that is needed for large datasets. For example, you may cut and past text which would be better placed in columns and rows. Google Refine allows the user to filter the information into columns based on user selected regular expressions. Refine can also query and insert information from databases such as Freebase or other sources such as Google Latitudes through a fetch feature. The benefit is updated complementary information that can be inserted quick.
Google Refine is a free tool, like Google Analytics and Webmasters Tools. But differing from these offers, Google Refine is first downloaded onto your PC or Apple, then run in local server on your desktop. This is an interesting feature, given the increased discussions over what organizations can control and manipulate data.
The tool has spawn interest from the web analytics community, so time will tell how well loved this app will be. I know I will be adding this to a number of tools for my own clients' benefits. (You can also read about Google Refine, and another tool from Stanford University, DataWrangler, in this post I wrote for All Analytics "Clean Data Made Easy With Free Tools" )
