In light of a recent class assignment where I was asked to a create visual map of my commute, I was inspired to see how other designers, marketers, and creatives have used maps to express themselves. When considering my own project, I toyed with the idea of using geo-tagging in some way. We are so connected to technology; you hardly need a map any more – just geo-tag your location and someone can find you. Ultimately, I chose to illustrate my map through a series of characters I interact with along the way, but the idea of geo-tagging and how there is so much data involved in social media as a result. So when I found this infographic, titled The Languages Of New York, Mapped By Tweets, I knew I had to share it on my blog.
The maps, created by James Cheshire, Ed Manley, and John Barratt, look at 8.5 million tweets to see who speaks which languages in New York. The maps are visually striking, with several colors representing different languages, spattered across the city. But aside from looking like a modern Jackson Pollock painting, the maps also uncover a captivating amount of data. The bursts of color in midtown Manhattan reveal it is incredibly multi-lingual. Mark Wilson, a writer for Fast Company, noted the endless possibilities this sort of data provides, and not only for marketers. He writes, “A relatively simple analysis of big data reveals, with extreme specificity, where various nationalities reside inside a giant urban melting pot. Even the minor possible interactions one can glean from this–like should the city distribute language-specific emergency information to certain blocks?–seem powerful on the sense of scale alone.” Something as basic as language, when looked at in a map like this, provides new understanding, new context, for creative problem solving. Social media is not just a tool for connecting with friends and your favorite brands. Social media has the power to uncover copious amounts of knowledge and could have a huge influence on our lives outside of the computer screen.
Sara Wynkoop 