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Geo-Tagging The City: Tourists Versus Locals

By Marcus Gilmer in Miscellaneous on Jun 8, 2010 6:00PM

A few weeks ago, we brought you this project by photographer Eric Fischer. Using geo-tagging tools and features with available photos from Flickr, he mapped out the vectors photographed by users in 50 different cities as they moved through the cities. Now, as our friends at Gapers Block pointed out, he's updated the image, separating it by tourists versus locals. But how does he define which is which? According to Fischer:

Blue points on the map are pictures taken by locals (people who have taken pictures in this city dated over a range of a month or more).

Red points are pictures taken by tourists (people who seem to be a local of a different city and who took pictures in this city for less than a month).

Yellow points are pictures where it can't be determined whether or not the photographer was a tourist (because they haven't taken pictures anywhere for over a month). They are probably tourists but might just not post many pictures at all.

Given the recent talk of tourists versus locals, we find it particularly intriguing. Check out the original-size extra big Chicago image here and a few excerpts above.