Get statistics and charts from Scribble

Ask Scribble for real-world data

Scribble can look up real-world statistics and turn them into charts for you. You ask a question in plain words, and Scribble finds the numbers and draws a chart right in the chat.

Open Scribble and type a question like:

• "Population of Canada"
• "Median household income in Texas"
• "Unemployment rate in France over time"

Scribble looks up the data and adds a chart to the conversation.

Where the data comes from

Scribble pulls statistics from two public sources:

• Google Data Commons, which covers population, income, jobs, health, housing, climate, and thousands of other public statistics.
• Wikipedia, which Scribble can use when a figure is not in Data Commons.

Every chart shows its data source at the bottom. Select the source link to open the original data in a new tab.

What the charts look like

Scribble shows the results in a Charts message in the chat:

• A trend over time appears as a line chart.
• A single figure, like the latest population, appears as a value with its year.
• A comparison appears as a bar chart.

Open the full chart view

To see a chart larger, select the expand icon (⛶) on the Charts message. This opens the Charts panel.

You can make the panel full screen. The charts resize to fit, and when there is more than one chart, they share the space evenly.

Blend data from different sources

Scribble can blend numbers from more than one source into a single chart. This is useful when no single source has everything you need. Scribble pulls what it can from Data Commons, fills in the rest from Wikipedia, and draws one chart from the combined data.

There are two ways Scribble blends data:

• Side by side. Scribble puts two measures on the same chart as separate lines or bars, each with its own colour and label. For example, "Compare the population of Canada and Mexico."
• Joined into one line. Scribble stitches figures from different sources into one continuous line. For example, if Data Commons has the older years and Wikipedia has the most recent ones, Scribble joins them so there are no gaps.

When two measures use different units, like dollars and percent, Scribble gives each measure its own axis so both are easy to read.

You can ask for a blend directly. For example, "Chart the population of Canada from Data Commons and add the latest year from Wikipedia."

Tips

• Be specific about the place and the measure. "Median income in Ohio" works better than "income."
• Say "over time" or "trend" when you want a line chart.
• Ask Scribble to "chart all of them" when you want every result shown.