Google Flu Trends launched in 2008 and became one of the first models of “nowcasting,” or using search trends to discover insights and patterns.
Google plans to hand over data to universities and hospitals. “Instead of maintaining our own website going forward, we’re now going to empower institutions who specialize in infectious disease research to use the data to build their own models,” Google wrote in a post.
Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York, Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Influenza Division will receive the data. Google notes that historical Flue and Dengue estimate data will be available for anyone to see and analyze.
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