Discussion: Orienteering & Internet Searches

I don't know if anyone has played around with Google Trends, but it gives you information about how certain search terms have trended over the last 8 years.

I found the one on orienteering especially interesting, since we're see a definite negative trend here in the US (and worldwide).

You can compare any search terms against each other, and for any region. For comparison, I've seen a similar decline for "adventure race" and "adventure racing", and increases in "trail running" and "mud run".

I should note that what you ask for now may show up as not enough search volume to show graphs, but if you do the same search again a few hours later, you'll see results (some of this data wasn't available when I looked for it last night, but it's there today).

...since we're see a definite negative trend here in the US (and worldwide)...

Well not necessarily the case with O in non-English speaking countries. For instance if you seach for trends for "suunnistus" in Finland (orienteering in Finnish), you see a RISING trend for the past four years...

Although I love playing with this kinda stuff—especially if someone has alreadly set it up for me to play—I won't have the time in the next month+, and the only short note I'll throw in is the emergence and rise of "adventure run" in 2011.

Ooooh, that data is up now! I tried that one earlier and got the not enough search volume message. Seattle #2!

Which one of the headlines on the right here makes the indicated activity seem like the coolest challenge?

Heh, I noticed that same broken link yesterday when I compared the same things. Here's the same story from another source.