Last but not least: tourist trap
A fascinating geotagging project: Eric Fischer creates city maps that visualize the differences in how tourists and locals take photos.
A classic of urban travel culture: Visitors want to get to know the «real» city, away from sightseeing buses, tour groups with signs, and overpriced tourist traps—where the locals hang out among themselves. Trendy travel guides lead you to the hip local hangout, where everyone goes—except tourists. And you, of course. That might work out once in a while—but in most cases, there’s little overlap. Tourists tend to go where other tourists go. Eric Fischer’s project visualizes where locals and tourists spend their time in a city—or rather, who takes photos where—which is probably a good indicator of popular hangouts. To this end, he has been collecting geotagging data from photos taken in major cities for years. He colors visitors red and locals blue. Anyone who takes photos in the same location over a period of months is classified as a local. Ambiguous cases are colored yellow. Already 136 cities Fischer shows in his Flickr—Profile. Unfortunately, none from Switzerland yet.
For those familiar with the area, the maps offer plenty of material for analysis and interpretation. Those unfamiliar with the area, on the other hand, could use them to pick out the truly trendy spots for their next city trip. And besides, the graphics are simply a pleasure to look at. By the way, each one can be downloaded in a resolution of up to 6137 x 6137 pixels. (hae)
