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October 29, 2015 2:18 PM   Subscribe

A paper published in the journal Royal Society Open Science details how photo data from Flickr can be used to predict people's movements.

Modelling human mobility patterns using photographic data shared online - Daniele Barchiesi, Tobias Preis, Steven Bishop, Helen Susannah Moat. Published 12 August 2015. DOI: 10.1098/rsos.150046

Flickr data has also been used to quantify international travel flows and predict the next place a tourist will go in a city[PDF]

Or you can see where a bunch of photos on Flickr were taken.
posted by the man of twists and turns (10 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
Bad news for the five people left on Flickr.
posted by entropicamericana at 2:39 PM on October 29, 2015 [4 favorites]


Neat! I'm having fun picking out the tourist landmarks in Paris and NYC.
posted by bismol at 2:58 PM on October 29, 2015


the five people left on Flickr

It's a little more than that.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:45 PM on October 29, 2015 [2 favorites]


Ah, so *that's* why trafficways.org is getting more web traffic today than usual! Hope you are enjoying it.

If you want a more complete Flickr map, served by better infrastructure, may I recommend the web map version of the Geotaggers' World Atlas at Mapbox?

[Flickr set, previously]
posted by enf at 3:48 PM on October 29, 2015


I'm really curious how tech companies intend to monetise these predictive algorithms. I'm certain Yahoo has several strategies in mind already - one of the co-authors of the tourist study is from Yahoo Research Labs. If you can predict where someone will go next, all kinds of marketing and business opportunities emerge.

I must admit I'm creeped out at the thought of someone being able to predict where I will be next. Brave new world, indeed.
posted by cynical pinnacle at 5:42 PM on October 29, 2015


I'm certain Yahoo has several strategies in mind already

My prediction is that there strategy will be the same as always. Identify great potential, get two thirds of the way there and then shut it down. I know this from looking at the stuff they have put on the internet.
posted by srboisvert at 6:17 PM on October 29, 2015 [3 favorites]


It's worse than that
posted by Pressed Rat at 9:14 PM on October 29, 2015


It's a little more than that..

Flickr, launched 2004:
112 million users (how many are still active?)
1 million pictures shared daily (average)
# of photos on flickr: 1 billion

Instagram, launched 2010
400 million users (75 million daily)
70 million pictures shared daily (average)
# of photos on Instagram: 30 billion

(fuck yahoo)
posted by entropicamericana at 5:57 AM on October 30, 2015


112 million users (how many are still active?)

Certainly more than five, which was my point. Regardless of your apparent hatred of Yahoo, Flickr does still serve some people better than Instagram. And to get back on topic, I'd be surprised if the sort of analysis discussed in the article couldn't be done on any online photo-sharing app's contents. They probably just picked Flickr so they wouldn't have to filter out millions of mirror selfies and pics of hipsters' meals
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:40 AM on October 30, 2015


I'm no fan of Yahoo since they dropped the ball on groups but at least Flickr isn't a closed garden.
posted by Mitheral at 5:56 PM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]


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