02-25-2014, 09:04 PM
To begin answering these questions, we can use computers to analyze the visual attributes and content of millions of photographs and their accompanying descriptions, tags, geographical coordinates, and upload dates and times, and then interpret the results. While this research began only few years ago, there are already a number of interesting projects that point toward future “computational visual sociology” and “computational photo criticism.” In 2009, David Crandall and his colleagues from the Computer Science Department at Cornell University published a paper titled “Mapping the World’s Photos” based on analysis of approximately thirty-five million Flickr photographs. As part of their research, they created a map consisting of the locations where images were taken. Areas with more photos appear brighter, while those with fewer photographs are dark. Not surprisingly, the United States and Western Europe are brightly illuminated while the rest of the world remains in the dark, indicating more sporadic coverage. But the map also reveals some unexpected patterns—the shorelines of most continents are very bright, while the interiors of the continents, with the notable exceptions of the States and Western Europe, remain completely dark.
Using their collected photo set, Crandall and his team also determined the most photographed locations in twenty-five metropolitan areas. This led to surprising discoveries—New York’s fifth most photographed location was the Midtown Apple store; Tate Modern ranked number two in London. A photo-mapping project created in 2010 by data artist and software developer Eric Fisher addressed a question likely prompted by such information: how many of these images were captured by tourists or local residents, and how does this distinction reveal different patterns? Fisher’s Locals and Tourists plotted the locations of large numbers of Flickr photographs by using color to indicate who took them: blue pictures by locals, red pictures by tourists; yellow pictures might have been made by either group. In total he mapped 136 cities, then shared these maps on Flickr. In his map of London we see how tourists frequent a few well-known sites, all in Central London, while locals cover the whole city but document less assiduously.
http://www.aperture.org/blog/watching-world/
Using their collected photo set, Crandall and his team also determined the most photographed locations in twenty-five metropolitan areas. This led to surprising discoveries—New York’s fifth most photographed location was the Midtown Apple store; Tate Modern ranked number two in London. A photo-mapping project created in 2010 by data artist and software developer Eric Fisher addressed a question likely prompted by such information: how many of these images were captured by tourists or local residents, and how does this distinction reveal different patterns? Fisher’s Locals and Tourists plotted the locations of large numbers of Flickr photographs by using color to indicate who took them: blue pictures by locals, red pictures by tourists; yellow pictures might have been made by either group. In total he mapped 136 cities, then shared these maps on Flickr. In his map of London we see how tourists frequent a few well-known sites, all in Central London, while locals cover the whole city but document less assiduously.
http://www.aperture.org/blog/watching-world/