The NYT reports today that the philanthropic unit of Google is using flu data from CDC and Google searches for keywords such as “muscle aches” and “flu symptoms”. A combination of the data including regional indicators helps to identify in which geographic regions there might be flu break-outs.
More information about this “predict and prevent” project is available on Google.org/Flutrends.
Again, an example of public data use by a private organization to private a public good.
