Advanced Google Searches

Chances are that you have searched the internet using Google and are familiar with its simplicity. Just type something and let Google find relevant content for you. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, right?

There are times when you may want to further refine your searches in Google, and there are 2 approaches to doing that. The first approach is to type specific limiters into the Google search box. This works well if you already know what the parameters are and know the syntax for each.

The second approach is to use the Advanced Search page that provides a menu of options along with sample usages:

I think you’ll find it self-explanatory, so give it a try and hopefully you’ll level up your Google searches right away.

Also note that after you perform certain advanced searches, Google will auto-populate the proper syntax in its command line search for you. For example, if I populate the Advanced Search in this way:

all these words: ahsoka tano

none of these words: mandalorian

The resultant command line search will be:

ahsoka tano -mandalorian

The command line search syntax can come in handy if you want to apply advanced searches to other Google assets like Gmail, Google Images, Google Alerts, and any other Google site where you can enter a search string.

The Journey of a Rain Droplet

River Runner is a website that visualizes the path of a rain drop from any point in the contiguous United States to its end point (usually the ocean, sometimes the Great Lakes, Canada/Mexico, or another inland water feature). Its instructions are simple: “Click to drop a raindrop anywhere in the contiguous United States and watch where it ends up.”

To learn more about the data resources that are used to visualize the path of a raindrop, visit the River Runner GitHub site and the Hydro-Network Linked Data Index.