Hello all

I just wanted to get a feel for the typical latencies involved with submitting and updating items in Google base using the APIs. The FAQ states that items take up to 24 hours to be indexed and appear in the snippets feed - is this a pessimistic, cover-your-ass figure or an accurate estimate? Similarly, I expect that updates to an item's attributes are applied immediately, but what is the effect on the item's indexing? Is the item removed entirely and then reinserted, or is it just the updated attributes that are re-indexed?

The reason I'm asking: I've been thinking that, modulo latency issues, Google Base would be an ideal service to use as a metaserver for online games. When a game server is started, it submits an item to Google Base detailing things like the server's IP, the game name, the server name, server location, number of players, server rules etc. Game clients can then use the full power of Google search to find suitable servers to connect to. The only potential problems lie with the latencies involved. Some of the server details that it's useful to search on are fairly volatile, such as if the server is active, or the number of players currently connected. If updates to these attributes remove the entire item from searches for 24 hours, then using Google Base becomes less attractive.

So I guess that most crucial question is: Does updating attributes remove the item from searches until it is completely re-indexed? Also: Would using Google Base like this constitute abuse of the system? It seems pretty far removed from the suggested low-volatility uses like recipes and items for sale.

Cheers for any answers