Notable Names Database (NNDB) Mapper
28/44 points
Pros: Free, complete bios of individuals mapped, niche categories of people/entities, good interface
Cons: Limited data (34,000 entities), limited ability to customize maps, can’t integrate own data
Bottom line: Because of its good bio information this may be a good place to start research but it is certainly limited due to its inability to do selective expansions of the prospect’s connections.
Summary:
If you can find your prospect in their data, you will have the beginning of a great profile. From sexual orientation to age and zodiac sign, the type of information given can border on sensational, but all data is good data when trying to get the full picture of someone’s life; even if we don't use it all (APRA guidelines would prohibit some of this information). They also have deceased individuals which could be helpful if you are looking at ways to determine family wealth/inheritance information. That said, I have not found many mid- to low-profile individuals in their data.
The first and biggest drawback to NNDB mapper is simply that it doesn’t have enough people in it to be worthwhile for every research request. Additionally, as with Muckety, before individuals make it into their data set, they are usually already quite well-known making the mapping only moderately helpful.
The second but minor fault with the mapping functionality is the inability to select individuals or groups of individuals to expand for most entities (you have to expand ALL nodes in order to see connections). And after expanding, you can only remove individuals only one-by-one (not through selecting them as a group with the mouse). This creates the problem of being too broad and taking too much time to eliminate the data you don’t want in your final map. The rest of the functionality is very good.
NNDB has a good set of government data – more than other sources – and based on that alone could be a good final stop for verifying previous connections. It also maps political donations in a way that gives a very nice "at-a-glance" picture of one's political affiliations.
From their website:
NNDB is an intelligence aggregator that tracks the activities of people we have determined to be noteworthy, both living and dead. Superficially, it seems much like a "Who's Who" where a noted person's curriculum vitae is available (the usual information such as date of birth, a biography, and other essential facts.)
The NNDB Mapper is a visual tool for exploring the connections between people in NNDB, linking them together through family relations, corporate boards, movies and TV, political alliances, and shadowy conspiracy groups. Maps can be saved and shared for others to explore. As of this writing, the major demographic breakdown in NNDB is 20831 living, 11376 dead, 26001 male and 6204 female.
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