The New Search

By K.Prafull Search engine often fail when you want to know simple things. A classic instance is when you do not know precisely what you want, as a search engine always needs keywords to begin with. Here, semantic search engines can help you, as they search for meaning. But the technology is in early stages, and nobody has built a satisfactory semantic search engine. Now engineers at three institutions, including the Carlos III University of Madrid in Spain, have developed what could be the first semantic search engine for the financial sector. The finance sector probably lends itself easily for semantic search, as it has very precise vocabulary. The semantic search engine, Sonar, can relate news and share valuations and prices, among other things. It achieves this by first adding data to a structured repository, and them using an inference engine and natural language processor to determine the relationships during a query. The product is designed for investors and financial institutions. Its newer versions are already under development, and the engineers are planning to expand the product to other domains such as transport and biotechnology.