Friday Eye Candy: Maps Reveal Differences in How Locals and Tourists See the City

The cities that visitors see will always be different than the city that locals see. A new mapping project reveals the distinctions between the local perspective and the tourist perspective for 136 cities around the globe.

1 minute read

February 27, 2015, 6:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Locals and Tourists - Pittsburgh

Eric Fischer / Flickr

Talia Lavin shares news of an insightful mapping project by Eric Fischer that shows where specific kinds of city folk (e.g., tourists and locals) take photos around cities all over the world.

Here's how Lavin describes the project: "Using geotagging—location data embedded in photographs and other digital media—[Fischer] created a series of maps that show us precisely which locations are beloved by tourists, by locals, and by both groups."

The photo series, called "locals and Tourists" is available for viewing on Flickr. In the maps, blue dots represent local photos and red are for tourists. Fischer determined how long the photogs had taken photos in the city to make the distinction between local and itinerant. 

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