Product review of Data Planet
Jinfo Report

17th August 2020

Abstract

Data Planet is an online statistical aggregation database with an extensive collection of public and private data covering a wide range of economic, political and social science topics. The product offers access to the data via a suite of visualisation, search, and analysis capabilities and is primarily used by US academic libraries but with the potential to be used in a more commercial setting.

It was acquired by the global academic publisher, SAGE Publishing, in 2018 to complement its own statistical databases. Data Planet says it is the largest aggregator of statistical data in the world. This product review focuses on the Data Planet Statistical Datasets.

This product review:

• Offers an overview of the product and company, its key advantages and the value derived by its users, particularly those in US academic libraries
  
  
• Looks at its vast collection of data sources, including over 157 billion datapoints, 12.6 billion datasets, over 500 source databases and over 80 data providers, all vetted and from reputable sources
  
  
• Explores the product's technological capabilities, with a particular focus on The Data Planet Statistical Datasets and its search functionality, as well as the product's export options and administrative portal
  
  
• Highlights the help and training that's available to its users, including a number of well-designed tutorials
  
  
• Looks at its two main competitors, Statista and ProQuest's Statistical Premium Collection and compares its key features as well as offering a brief look at some of the freely available offerings such as DataHub, Google Dataset Search and Google Public Data Explorer
  
  
• Finds out about the company's development plans, including an overhaul of the user interface.

By Andrew Lucas

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