GoogleBase has just released a REST api that allows developers to build applications that query, create, update, and delete objects stored in GoogleBase.  

The Google Base data API service lets developers interact directly with the Google Base server. Using the API, the Google Base data can be more efficiently stored and accessed. The API allows you to:

o insert, update, and delete data

o query for items by specifying search criteria

o explore existing item types to discover what data you can fetch

The GoogleBase bulk upload API provided little feedback when things went wrong, and did not allow the efficient or timely updating or deletion of items, so the GoogleBase API has the potential to be valuable.

But there are two problems: too little traffic and contradictory terms of use. 

On the traffic front, we’ve heard anecdotal reports that people aren’t getting meaningful amounts of traffic from Googlebase.

Google needs to do a much more effective job of promoting Googlebase content on high traffic sites like the Google search site.  Google also needs to make the Googlebase site easier to use; it still has the feel of a geek’s playground rather than an inviting site. 

Google Video saw quite a spike in usage when a link was added to the Google Search page, so Google clearly has the potential to goose traffic if they want to, but today the experience isn’t worthy of that boost.

As for the terms of use, they seem to prevent the very things the API was designed to allow. Omitting a lot of ORs and additional constraints, they read “You will not… use any… application to retrieve …any portion of Google services.”    Google needs to spell out more clearly what are valid uses of the API, otherwise this will make companies leery to invest in it.

Googlebase is a big test of Google’s growth as a company.  Can Google succeed in a space where community and user experience matter just as much as technology?  Can Google create a software ecosystem that allows partners to add significant value in areas where Google is weak?