Weird Googel Trends(TM) Alberta facts:

Google Trends lets you see who in the world is searching what.

For example, Moncton, NB leads Canada in searches for "sex" (and "porn"), while Richmond Hill leads the country in searches for "MP3".

Most "Edmonton" searches are from Edmonton, most "Toronto" searches are from Toronto, etc. etc.

Now lets see "Alberta", around the world. Naturally, Red Deer, Grande Prairie, and Edmonton all lead the globe in searches for "Alberta".

In the United States, Mountain View, CA leads in searches for "Alberta", followed by Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake City, and then the "natural" choices of Houston and Denver. Washington DC barely cracked the list: and this is despite this "Alberta at the Smithsonian" exhibit.

In the U.K., Aberdeen Scotland leads in "Alberta" searches. Oxford, home to one of the two greatest universities on the planet, is 2nd place. Glasgow takes 3rd place back for the Scots, while the other great university in Cambridge is in 4th. Not too bad in impressiveness, really.

Canberra leads the Aussies in "Alberta" searches. Again, kind of weird.

In China, the city of Tianjin, which I had never even heard of, leads the searches. Harbin is a notable 3rd. Beijing is up there as well, but the popular centre of China (Shanghai) barely cracks the top ten.

Only the city of Hermosillo, Mexico has searched for Alberta in that country. This is a good time to present the Wikipedia entries on both Hermosillo and the Chinese city of Tianjin (ie. not the asteroid.

In France, Bordeaux is the king of "Alberta" searches, followed by Nice. Toulouse and Paris come in at 4 and 5 respectively. Lyon and Dijon are also on the list.

In Germany, only Freiburg Im Breisgau has searched for our fair province. Now I have to search for Freiburg Im Breisgau itself.

Japan, India, Ukraine, Egypt, Switzerland, and Norway all don't have any searches at all.

In Belgium, Brussels leads in searches. Diamond capital Antwerp is in 3rd place. Belgium's are all fairly well spaced, one can note.

Italy has some interesting searches, with Trieste and Genova leading the pack. Florence, Venice, and Bologna are the next in line. Verona, Rome, and Torino are at the bottom of the top 10. There are also some weird spikes in the graph, which I haven't paid too much attention to.

So enough about "Alberta". "Ralph Klein" is a search most popular in Edmonton and Calgary, with Ottawa and Winnipeg(!) next up. Toronto is 5th, with Halifax a curious 6th. Oddly, Alberta Alliance" only received hits in 2004.

Update, 4:27pm: How did I never think to check searches for Chris Pronger? Notice the massive spike in Canadian searches after the Oilers picked him up in August 2005, and again when the playoffs were underway (and then over). This 2006 cross section shows a little more detail: later in the year this page should be more illustrative.