This Flickr photostream is going to get a lot of traffic – and interpretation – because it’s about a lot of traffic.
Eric Fischer routed 30,000 randomly-chosen trips through the paths suggested by 10,000 randomly-chosen geotags. (Data from the Twitter streaming API, August, 2011.) “These are perhaps the most interesting routes between the endpoints of the trips, even if not necessarily the most likely.”
Here’s Vancouver:
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I confess, it’s not entirely clear to me what I’m seeing here since I’m not sure how the data is collected. Are these trips made by any mode – driving, walking, transit, cycling? And what are we seeing primarily in the strong diagonal line: trips on the Expo line or Highway 1? What’s happening on the line to the west out to UBC: trips on Cornwall or 4th? Where’s Broadway?
Still, fascinating – as are the other cities to be found on this site. Your interpretations welcome.
It is a bit odd isn’t it?
My impression is that the tracking is of Smartphones (i.e. with Twitter on internet) in all modes of travel.
The lines could be an “average” based on signals received from cell antenna sites – so that could be why they are so quiggly and why they don’t accurately track the SkyTrain lines and/or roadways.
The diagonal looks like SkyTrain Expo Line plus there’s a faint Millennium Line loop too, but they don’t follow SkyTrain along the Grandview Cut to downtown and seem to diverge to Main & Broadway(?)
The strong vertical line (North-south) is not the Canada Line (since it does line up with the downtown peninsula correctly – so it is Main steet. Perhaps reinforcing its prominent position as “hipster-cool central” if Twitter followers are hipsters. Does the Main bus turn onto Hastings?
But why and how does it round what looks like QE Park to then follow Cambie? There’s no bus route that does that and the roadways and bike paths are not at that much of an angle either (i.e. where 37th bikeway hits Cambie, it’s a right angle)
Maybe all the cell phone antennas for Vancouver’s east side are near Main Street (?) with some at Oakridge to shift the balance to the west farther south (?)
The branching of that line in the south could reflect Canada Line (after it emerges from tunnel?)
The line out to UBC could be 4th or Cornwall.
The 3 routes of travel across Burrard Inlet are easy to find.
FYI, you can see the streetmap by looking at the original size.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingsf/6755920957/sizes/o/in/photostream/