Better Know a GeoCommons Feature: Finder! Search Techniques

The data repository in Finder! has been growing and the variety of data within Finder! is now quite extensive. To help you navigate through this data we have added some new sort features and will give you a few new search tips as well.

When you do a general search in Finder! you now have the option to sort your search results by date and relevance. Here’s an example: Let’s start by going to the Finder! homepage and doing a search for ‘Bridges’.

Above we see the search results page. On the right hand side of the page you will now see that there are options to sort by relevance, sort by newest first, and oldest first (highlighted in red). This is especially helpful when looking for a dataset that was recently uploaded.

Now let’s discuss some helpful search tips. Let’s say that you want to search for data on pollution but you notice that many of the results lack proper metadata and you are unsure where the data is sourced from. To make sure your data is reliable and from a quality source try the following search technique.

When filling out metadata in Finder! after you upload your dataset there is a source field where you can indicate the source of your data. By entering into the Finder! search field ‘source: ______’ you are able to collect search results that only have the indicated source that you have entered. This will help filter out extraneous items and provide you with more focused search results. The example above searches for data from the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), a well-known source for quality pollution data.

The same technique to search for a specific source can also be used to search for results for data from a particular GeoCommons user and for datasets that have a specific tag associated with it.

Above you can see that the search ‘user: Bill’ and the search ‘tag: pollution’. The user search allows you to search for data uploaded by a specific user and the tag search allows you to find data that has been tagged with a specific tag word.

Another unique search option in Finder! is the ability to cancel out certain search results. Let’s say that you are looking for data on the recent earthquake in Haiti but notice that you are receiving a lot of results about the earthquake in Chile. To make sure you get only results for Haiti try the following:

By putting the minus sign in front of the word chile in your search field you eliminate the possibility of receiving any data on Chile. This again is another technique to clean up your search results and allow you to eliminate extraneous results.

We are still in the process of making our Finder! search better here at FortiusOne, but hope these latest features are beneficial to a better search. Stay tuned to see new search features that will again better filter your search results to help you find exactly what you are looking for in our data repository.