Google OneBox

What is a Google OneBox and how can I leverage it?

You might not realize that you've been using Google OneBox functionality for years.  Have you ever searched for something like "Atlanta Weather" and seen the weather forecast illustration appear magically above your search results?  Or you can search for a listed stock symbol and see current quotes with a financial chart.

Google is effectively anticipating what you are trying to do, where you're ultimately trying to go, and offers shortcuts if possible.  Most people probably stumble onto this functionality on google.com inadvertently, but once you get the hang of how to construct your queries, Google will fetch just what you need and saving you a lot of clicking.The OneBox is essentially a window into a secondary data provider.

Google has attempted to anticipate your needs and perform an inquiry against another data source, relaying the resulting information back to you.  Suppose you are searching google.com for AA 41.  Google.com anticipates that you are probably looking for information related to American Airlines flight 41.  It recognizes "AA" as an airline code, and knows that when an airline code is followed by a number, it's probably because someone wants information about a flight.  Behind the scenes, Google makes a quick web services call to flightstats.com to find out about that flight.  If it finds something, Google passes the information back to you in a small box just above the search results.  Without any additional clicking, you can see when that flight departed, and when it is expected to arrive.The Google Search Appliance (GSA) offers the same kind of functionality, extending this convenience to the enterprise/intranet search world.  You can hook up your own data sources, enabling your company's search appliance can be equally clever and offer up timesaving and relevant results.  In the last few years, Definition 6 has assisted a number of clients with the development of custom OneBox solutions.  In one such case we were engaged by a large national automotive and travel association to offer visitors search results that were relevant to travel destinations.  This client had already invested in a sophisticated travel information database, designed to provide time-sensitive tourism information (such as event / concert information.)  Definition 6 developed a java based solution that provided seamless integration between the client's Oracle based solution and the GSA's OneBox framework.  Within a few weeks, the company was able to offer a consolidated search experience, providing organic search results from the GSA's index, coupled with real-time information from the travel information database.  Another typical integration is to provide a connection between a client's intranet search and their ERP system.  This solution provides real-time inventory and accounting information to internal users based on the search term.  If an authenticated, internal user searches for "PO 1422", they can be provided relevant information about that purchase order right in the search results page.  Migrating internal users to a single unified starting-point for internal search activities can improve worker efficiency and also offer opportunities to later offer additional functionality without having to tell people where to look for it.  Definition 6 has successfully integrated a number of external systems with the Google Search Appliance. The GSA is an extremely capable machine that was designed with external integration in mind.  Talk to Definition 6 about how we can help you harness the power of the GSA.