Zanran Explained

Zanran is a search engine for data and statistics.^{[1] [2]} Zanran's focus is on finding graphs, charts and tables on the Internet, which distinguishes it from other search engines such as Google, Bing, etc.^{[3] [4]} Unlike a typical search engine, the results—graphs, tables, etc.—can be previewed by mouse-hovering over the thumbnails.^{[3] [5]}

History

In 2006, the founders, Dr Yves Dassas and Jon Goldhill, started developing the technology that makes Zanran possible.^[2] A limited beta ran, starting in November 2010. The service was launched as a public beta version in May 2011.^{[6] [7]}

Technology

Zanran has developed two technologies specifically for this application:

1. Image ‘classification’ is the ability for a computer to decide whether an image is a graph, a pie-chart etc. as opposed to a photograph or a cartoon. The Zanran algorithms work to over 95% accuracy. This is important because most images on the web are not graphs and otherwise there would be a large number of false positives.
2. Text extraction is the process of taking the most appropriate text to describe the graph. This contrasts with a normal search engine where an entire HTML page might be included.

These processes are the subject of Zanran's UK patent.^[8] The image processing in particular takes a great deal of computing power. Zanran runs on the Amazon cloud, and uses hundreds of machines at a time.

The service is English-language only as of December 2011.

The company

Zanran Ltd is based in London, UK. It was financed by the founders prior to a private angel investment round in March 2010.

Other data-search on the Internet

Other specialists in the data-search space include WolframAlpha, Infochimps, and Timetric.

References

1. Web site: Zanran, search engine data and statistics . Pcworld.fr . May 26, 2011 . January 12, 2012 . Chartier, Mathieu. fr.
2. Web site: Zanran, the new search engine data is available in beta! . Fr.techcrunch.com . May 25, 2011 . January 12, 2012 . Bekkaoui, Selma. fr.
3. News: Will Zanran be the Google for data? . The Christian Science Monitor . May 16, 2011 . January 12, 2012 . Marron, Donald.
4. http://selnd.com/lxNfgD
5. http://datamining.typepad.com/data_mining/2011/05/zanran-a-search-engine-for-graphs.html
6. Web site: Zanran is a new data search engine. Ellie Kesselman's weblog. 22 June 2017. 21 June 2011.
7. http://philbradley.typepad.com/phil_bradleys_weblog/2011/05/zanran.html
8. http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/originalDocument?FT=D&date=20090812&DB=EPODOC&locale=en_gb&CC=GB&NR=2457267A&KC=A&ND=4

External links

• Official website