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April 12, 2005
Trying out public records search engine Pretrieve
A frequent reader pointed me to his new venture: Free Public Record Search Engine - Pretrieve. Interesting front-end to multiple public databases. Of course, as with every new search engine, the first thing I do is put in my name. Here are some interesting things:
1. I didn't know I had a patent for a "thrust bearing".
2. The political contribution list didn't list all my contributions (probably because I made some through companies, good info to know).
3. The UI is ok, but not optimal. When you type in a name and a state, you still get results of names in other states (that aren't the right person). Also, I would prefer a tab view to the current nested HTML pages view. Not sure I want to click through to each database. Why don't you just show me all the results in tabs with the sources highlighted. With this current view, I still have to pick a database. What if I don't know which database? I want you to do the search work.
4. The front-end you are providing to the public databases needs to be thicker. Needs to provide more navigation help, more smarts. More Google. Just providing a nested tree of html front-ends to specific databases.
Good start though.
Here is how Paul Bunting (founder) describes the site:
Pretrieve is a public record search engine designed to help make finding and researching public record information from free sites on the internet faster and easier for everyone. Pretrieve is a Deep Web search engine, not a web crawler. Our engine is designed to query third party databases on the users' behalf to retrieve specific information related to the business, person, or address they are researching. We're not just a "List of Links" that dumps users off at the front page of a website to let them navigate their way to the information they seek. We execute java script that delivers the user directly to their results. We present our users with a categorized menu of information options and take them to their search results in one click - no more redundant data entry. The best way to experience Pretrieve is to test it yourself. You can use the quick search to see if the business or individual is listed in an online phone directory and start your research, or you can use the "Advanced Search" function and enter more specific information about your subject to get more refined results.
We are still a small technology start up, but we are focused on growing our library of valuable search links as rapidly as financially possible. We feel that free web based public records is a valuable information resource that most researchers and consumers fail to take advantage of because it takes too long or they simply can't find them. We believe that we can help our users make better decisions about the companies and people they choose to do business by helping them make better informed decisions. Our users are a diverse bunch that includes lawyers, journalists, Investigators, mortgage & title companies, real estate professionals, health care companies, and our most recent addition: online daters ! It seems that those tech savvy daters out there prefer "Pretrieving" someone to "Googling" someone because of the depth of information.
Sincerely,
Paul Bunting
President
Pretrieve, LLC
(404) 314-9653
www.pretrieve.com
Posted by Martin at April 12, 2005 10:22 AM
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