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Google Analytics API Goes Public

Posted by kdawson on from the get-your-hot-data dept.

stoolpigeon writes "Google has announced the now public beta for the Google Analytics API (described here). The API lets developers create client applications that can pull analytics data, to mash it up with other data or to present it in new ways. The API has been available through a private beta program for about a year, and some applications are already out there: examples include Polaris on Adobe Air and Analytics for Android."

16 of 52 comments (clear)

  1. A method for offloading processor useage by Crudely_Indecent · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The clients now perform the rendering and Google need only provide the raw data. It's brilliant and a great move. As applications are written, refined and adopted, Google will benefit from the reduced load of the rendering servers. Their bandwidth usage would probably go down as well.

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    "Lame" - Galaxar
    1. Re:A method for offloading processor useage by soniCron88 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Google's interface for Analytics data visualization is done with Flash, so their servers aren't rendering anything right now, anyway.

      --
      Digital Sailor
    2. Re:A method for offloading processor useage by derGoldstein · · Score: 2

      Their bandwidth usage would probably go down as well.

      Actually, I'm willing to bet it'll go up. They're giving people the ability to create their own interfaces to GA, ones that likely pull more data per-instance in order to allow the app to visualize things like comparative graphs/charts, as well as trends.

      These new apps will only be pulling raw data, this is true, but why would you want to use/create an app that allows you to play around with *less* information than their site already allows. It's more likely that one of the bigger uses for this will be for power-users, which will want to suck as much data and throw it on as much monitor real-estate as it can.

      --
      Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
  2. Google Analytics? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is that the thing that makes a lot of web pages take forever to load?

    1. Re:Google Analytics? by Crudely_Indecent · · Score: 5, Funny

      No way, you're thinking of another app, Google Maps.

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      "Lame" - Galaxar
    2. Re:Google Analytics? by Lord+Ender · · Score: 2, Informative

      You are correct. Install firebug, and watch the net chart it generates. The page will load, then you will wait another second or so before google-analytics loads and you can actually use your browser.

      --
      A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
  3. If only they'd release the collection code... by oneiros27 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Due to US government privacy policies, we're not allowed to 'share information with third parties' which makes all hosted analytics solutions forbidden.

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    Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
    1. Re:If only they'd release the collection code... by Alex+Zepeda · · Score: 3, Informative

      So host it yourself. http://www.google.com/urchin/download.html.

      --
      The revolution will be mocked
    2. Re:If only they'd release the collection code... by lavalamp · · Score: 2, Informative

      More info about Urchin here, it definitely still exists. v6.6 is currently in beta.

      http://www.urchintools.com/

  4. Re:Shame by vux984 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's a shame they don't open source the code that drives the analytics.. That'd be sweet.

    But it wouldn't give them access to all the traffic on your site (and everyone elses that uses their analytics.) I was pretty pissed when they bought urchin (the company that made what is now 'google analytics') because they the first thing google did was prevent you from hosting the analytics yourself.

    On that note is there a good FOSS analytics package, preferably one that works well cross platform?

  5. Re:Shame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I was pretty pissed when they bought urchin (the company that made what is now 'google analytics') because they the first thing google did was prevent you from hosting the analytics yourself.

    No, that's still available: http://www.google.com/urchin/index.html

  6. Re:Shame by Frankie70 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Google paid around 30 Million Dollars for buying Urchin Software whose product it originally was.
    Maybe if you could buy that division from Google & open source it. That'd be sweet.

  7. Beta? by kevin98055 · · Score: 2, Funny

    And by "Beta", do we mean "RTM"?

  8. Re:Shame by eareye · · Score: 4, Informative

    On that note is there a good FOSS analytics package, preferably one that works well cross platform?

    One open source alternative to Google Analytics is Piwik.

  9. Re:the complete API reference by DragonWriter · · Score: 2, Interesting

    That is beside the point. He wants to HOST the analytics himself so google doesn't have access to all the raw analytics data.

    Its not completely beside the point; while clearly opening the API doesn't help that as directly as opening the engine would, with the API available (and apps using it already) and incentive is created for independent implementations of the API, as well. So this is probably, in the long term, good for people who want to self-host analytics without building their own from scratch.

  10. Re:Shame by RoFLKOPTr · · Score: 2

    I wonder if it's been improved since then.

    Piwik has gotten some much-needed usability improvements in the past couple months. It is still very obviously beta software, but everything is working much better. I've been using Piwik since last October or so after trying Google Analytics, Statcounter, and Open Web Analytics. They also have Wordpress and MediaWiki plugins so you don't have to go around editing templates. I'm really impressed with how much they've improved lately.