Mapping Interest in All Things Zombie

Mark Graham, Taylor Shelton, and Matthew Zook queried Google’s geo-tagged information for zombie-related keywords, including references to Halloween events, Halloween costumes, and purported zombie sightings.

New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London have the largest number of references. Non-English speaking locales may have slipped through the cracks, since the researchers conducted the search in English. Graham, Shelton, and Zook went on to map preferred zombie-killing weapons by regions.

“This whole exercise is meant to make a broader point about the utility and limitations of the geoweb,” Emily Badger writes. Some of the information uncovered by the geographers seems to hold real meaning. But their project also made clear the unreliability of Internet evidence.  “[Y]ou probably wouldn’t want to rely on these maps alone to prepare for the zombie apocalypse,” Badger concludes.