Google is getting ready to release a new service called Google Base. The service is not live yet, but you can view some screenshots here.

No one knows for sure what the service is for or how it might fit into the Google mission of organizing all the world’s information, something they recently said will take 300 years.

I think Google translate gives us a clue. They’ve used the United Nation’s database of documents that exist in multiple languages to train their translation system. The 200 billion word UN database is great as it acts as a sort of uber Rosetta stone, and results in more accurate translation without any extra effort.

Using the folksonomy of the Web 2.0, Google Base users will post items and tag them with attributes. This will provide Google with a sort of Rosetta stone that will help them to index all items better.

This is a very smart, cheap and highly valuable approach. Leveraging passionate users to increase a Web service’s value seems to be a big part of Web 2.0. We can see this in hugely successful examples like Flickr, del.icio.us and greasemonkey, not to mention the blogosphere in general.

Google Base might also give Google a way to break into the Ebay, PayPal and Craigslist market. The screenshots on the Web show pricing and payment areas curiously devoid of options or content, supporting rumors of their Google Wallet effort. Google’s ability to topple the PayPal/Ebay empire is questionable in the short term, but 300 years is a lot of time to build up momentum.