We're in Amsterdam at XTech, where we gave a talk on "Liberating Geopolitical Borders" which shared early analysis of our data and a look at our technical architecture. We also released the documentation of our api available end of month.
Background:
Platial is the user-created online atlas; a free resource for everyone to save, share and map Places that are meaningful to them in our towns and around the world.
By enabling people anywhere to annotate Places and create maps, shifts in connection and territory become visible. A new social territory becomes evident which is an alternative to the nationalism of borders. When geography can be viewed through the eyes of many, geopolitical boundaries may begin to melt.
The Geography of Platial:
Currently based on over 200,000 Places and 4000 maps related to adventure, history, politics, music, architecture, romance, and life.
An early analysis of Place data reveals the beginning of a Geography of Platial. Online, borderless and made by people, it'll be interesting to watch neighborhoods and nations take shape not by proximity but by correlation as told by global citizen's. (Based on Top 20 tags of 212 cities with emphasis on the 10 most active Platial cities.).
I. Sister-cities exist and can be exposed, revealing a social topography irrelevant to proximity or national borders
Portland and NY correlate more than Portland and Vancouver BC, which have a closer proximity.
New York and Toronto correlate more than Toronto and Vancouver BC which are part of one nation.
II. Some cities are emerging as gateways to other cities while some are unique.
New York and Boston have high correlation to other cities making them bridges to the other active cities
Of the 10 Most Active Cities, Toronto has the lowest correlation to other cities also making it the most unique in terms of tag set.
III. Coffee, restaurant(s), city orientation and food unite across borders:
10/10 most active cities have their city name in their Top 20 tags.
9/10 most active cities list coffee in their Top 20 tags.
9/10 most active cities list restaurant(s).
8/10 most active cities list food.
Art and home also rank high across the board.
IV. Citizens are charting a collective course throughout the world, which can begin to be articulated and which reduces the importance of national borders.
Shenzhen has more Places on Platial than Memphis.
V. Maps could be used to increase ties with people in isolated lands (providing internet access and good base map technology).
Melbourne, Bangalore, Helsinki, Taipei, Milan, Osaka, and Tokyo all have the same exact representation on Platial.
Visualization of a universal city skyline, where each building represents a city (Top 10 cities only).
Recent Comments