Hi Jeff,

Thanks for your response!

I'm not sure why you aren't seeing any results from at least the first query, it was taken directly from the documentation. It could be that intermittent problem I'm seeing. In fact, later the same day I posted, I checked the second query (directly from the post), and it returned results! It seems to be working correctly now. Very strange. (BTW, I have to right click and "View Source" in the browser to see the results...)

Yes, I think that's it. But just to be clear I'm looking for the values being used. For example, I want to ask the feed what are the most frequent attribute "values" in Google Base for the various types. So in my two example job queries above, I'm interested in finding some of the most popular "job industry" and "employer(s)" that exist currently within Google Base.

The query you provided does answer both questions (in one query). But I have been frustrated by the feed because many times I'm not seeing any results when I know they should be there (after all, these should be the very top "Item Type Specific Attributes" contained in Google Base).

I thought that by formulating a more specific query, I might get better results, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

This brings me to a general frustration and first impression with Google Base. I've been investigating its use for both accessing the data, and then later, to populate Google Base. However, there seems to be a major governor in place -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_(device) -- and not one without political and business overtones! :)

I don't want to get too sidetracked here, but I'm sure Google understands that for some of us to seriously consider using it, it will need to be reliable. Elsewhere on this forum, I've read that we shouldn't cache the data, so that's not an option. Even when the data is working and results are returned, the "Item Type Specific Attribute" values are limited, and I've seen cases where even using max-values=50 is still not pulling back the data (when I know it's there!). I guess this is similar to the "snippets" aspect of the feed. So... when I'm hungry, I'm not sure I want to stop in at the Google Base Data Diner, because I know all I'll get is a snack! :)

I guess the above observations and comments have a question or two mixed in. I understand the motivations for limiting the data, but I'm not sure how much of what I'm seing is a result of that. Therefore, if there are queries that ensure we get access to more of the data reliably, I'd love to learn of those techniques!

Thanks again!

Jim