Search Globe — Global Visualization of Google Searches by Language

Shown here is a globe visualization of world-wide Google searches, categorized by one of 21 languages. The visualization is created with WebGL toolkit and bundled data from Chrome Experiments.

Data Annotations — Geotagged and Ranked

I have annotated the data with geographical information from MaxMind, to include city, region, and country for each search location. The closest city was determined by finding the entry in the MaxMind data set (2.8M cities) with the smallest haversine distance to the coordinates of the search term. Note that latitude and longitude were provided to 3 decimal places in the original data file but are available to 7 decimal places in the MaxMind set.

The annotated data file includes new fields

rank (1-indexed rank of magnitude of search data point)

(1-indexed rank of magnitude of search data point) cumulative_value (fractional total of all search terms with equal or smaller magnitude)

(fractional total of all search terms with equal or smaller magnitude) language_name (name of the search language)

(name of the search language) city (closest city to latitude/longitude of search data point)

(closest city to latitude/longitude of search data point) region (region of closest city)

(region of closest city) country (country of closest city)

(country of closest city) city_latitude, city_longitude (coordinates of closest city)

Download geotagged data

Thanks to Evan Applegate from UC Davis for requesting an explanation of the additional fields. They were not obvious.

By language

View all languages or individual data for the following languages: Arabic Belgian Chinese Dutch English Finnish French German Indonesian Italian Japanese Korean Norwegian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Spanish Swedish Thai Turkish

By magnitude

View top 5%, 10%, 15% of data.

By location

View top 10 20 50 100 search locations.

By density

View search density.

Google Search Volume

The color legend was created based on the color scheme used in the original webgl-globe code.

Observations on the data

Illegal Mexican aliens in US

There are 11 locations in the US with searches in Spanish: Dillard, Douglas, Flint Hill, Floyds Knobs, Great Falls, Orrs Island, Redwood Estates, Simpsonville, Spanish Fork, Spanish Fort, and Washington. Conspicuously, Los Angeles is missing.

The northern-most town in Mexico with a Spanish search is Mexicali (Baja Californa, lat 32.65 long -115.47).

Chinese Take Out

The Chinese takeover has been largely overestimated. Only two towns in the US participate in Chinese language searches: Williamsport and Evensville.

English Around the World

English in South America

With the exception of Albouystown (Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana) and Paramaribo (Suriname), South America shows no English searches.

English in Asia

Asia shows interesting patterns. Namely, no English searches are seen from China. No doubt, political firewalls are the cause. By country, India leads with 82 searches, followed by Malaysia (64) and Pakistan (11). The full list is India (82), Malaysia (64), Pakistan (11), United (5), Bangladesh (4), Sri (3), Philippines (3), Nepal (3), Korea (3), Japan (2), Iran (2), Singapore (1), Papua (1), Myanmar (1), Maldives (1), Cambodia (1), Brunei (1), Bhutan (1), Afghanistan (1).

English in the Far North

There are 25 locations with English language searches at latitude ≥ 60°. There are 15 cities in Alaska with searches (Anchorage, Barrow, Bethel, Cordova, Delta Junction, Eagle River, Fairbanks, Kenai, Nome, North Pole, Palmer, Seward, Soldotna, Valdez, Wasilla), of which Barrow is furthest north (lat 71.29°). The other 10 cities are mostly in Canada: Lerwick (Shetland Islands, United Kingdom, lat 60.160°), Whitehorse (Yukon Territory, Canada, lat 60.720°), Jarstad (Sogn og Fjordane, Norway, lat 61.360°), Fort Providence (Northwest Territories, Canada, lat 61.380°), Yellowknife (Northwest Territories, Canada, lat 62.450°), Frobisher Bay (Nunavut, Canada, lat 63.750°), Keflavík Gullbringusysla Iceland lat 64.010°), Inuvik (Northwest Territories, Canada, lat 68.340°), Gjoa Haven (Nunavut, Canada, lat 68.630°), Igloolik (Nunavut, Canada, lat 69.380°).

English in the Far South

New Zealand and Australia dominate search loations in the far south. The southermost English search is from Invercargill (Southland, New Zealand, lat -46.4° — compare this to the northmost search from Barrow in Alaska at lat 71.29°). In Australia, the southermost search is from Davenport (Tasmania, Australia, lat -41.17°). In South Africa, the southermost search is from Hermanus (Western Cape, South Africa, lat -34.42°).

Most Remote Locations

What is the most remote search location? Here, I define distance between locations by the haversine distance.

I tabulate three types of remote locations, by language, by finding

most remote, regardless of language of nearest city

most remote, with nearest city searching in the same language

most remote, with nearest city searching in a different language

Most Remote

Cities, by language, most distant from their closest city.

The most remote search location of alll is Papeete, whose closest search data point is 2,287 km away — Fusi in American Samoa. Also interesting is the Belgian-speakinng Westerschelling in the Netherlands, which has the smallest maximum distance to its nearest city, by language. It is 25 km from Harlingen, Netherlands.

French Papeete (French Polynesia, lat -17.540° long -149.570°) 2287 km from English Fusi (American Samoa, United States) English Mahé (Beau Vallon, Seychelles, lat -4.620° long 55.440°) 1347 km from English Hamar (Banaadir, Somalia) Russian Yakutsk (Sakha, Russian Federation, lat 62.040° long 129.750°) 1119 km from Chinese Kuchiku (Heilongjiang, China) Dutch Godthaab (Vestgronland, Greenland, lat 64.180° long -51.720°) 818 km from English Frobisher Bay (Nunavut, Canada) Portuguese Boa Vista (Roraima, Brazil, lat 2.820° long -60.670°) 522 km from English Albouystown (Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana) Indonesian Lette (Indonesia, lat -5.150° long 119.410°) 516 km from Indonesian Balikpapan (Kalimantan Timur, Indonesia) Spanish San Juan de Miraflores (Loreto, Peru, lat -3.760° long -73.270°) 458 km from Spanish San Martin (San Martin, Peru) Chinese Hotan (Xinjiang, China, lat 37.110° long 79.920°) 431 km from Chinese Kaschgar (Xinjiang, China) Arabic Ara`ar (Al Hudud ash Shamaliyah, Saudi Arabia, lat 30.980° long 41.030°) 390 km from Arabic Hael (Ha'il, Saudi Arabia) Japanese Nase (Kagoshima, Japan, lat 28.380° long 129.490°) 248 km from Japanese Nago (Okinawa, Japan) Thai Amphoe Muang Ranong (Ranong, Thailand, lat 9.970° long 98.640°) 225 km from Thai Amphoe Muang Nakhon Si Thammarat (Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand) Turkish Thospia (Van, Turkey, lat 38.490° long 43.380°) 177 km from English Sangar-e Beru Khan (Azarbayjan-e Bakhtari, Iran) Norwegian Guovdagæidno (Finnmark, Norway, lat 69.010° long 23.040°) 107 km from Norwegian Bosekop (Finnmark, Norway) Swedish Lofsdalen (Jamtlands Lan, Sweden, lat 62.120° long 13.270°) 106 km from Norwegian Nybergsund (Hedmark, Norway) Finnish Kansela (Oulu, Finland, lat 65.970° long 29.170°) 98 km from Finnish Märkäjärvi (Lapland, Finland) Romanian Sisesti (Gorj, Romania, lat 45.060° long 23.300°) 68 km from Romanian Drobeta-Turnu Severin (Mehedinti, Romania) Italian Nuoro (Sardegna, Italy, lat 40.320° long 9.330°) 60 km from Italian Santu Lussurgiu (Sardegna, Italy) Polish Vlodava (Poland, lat 51.550° long 23.550°) 45 km from Polish Bielawin (Poland) Korean Bontoku (Kyongsang-bukto, Korea, lat 36.410° long 129.370°) 43 km from Korean Eijitsu (Kyongsang-bukto, Korea) German Monplaisir (Brandenburg, Germany, lat 53.060° long 14.270°) 39 km from German Prenzlau (Brandenburg, Germany) Belgian Westerschelling (Friesland, Netherlands, lat 53.360° long 5.220°) 25 km from Belgian Harlingen (Friesland, Netherlands)

Most Remote — nearest city searching in same language

Cities, by language, most distant from their closest city, in which people speak (i.e. search) in the same language.

English searches are the most spread out on the globe. Of all search languuages, Mahe in Seychelles is furthest from its same-language nearest loccation of all other languages. It is 1,347 from Hamar in Somalia, in which English searches are found.

English Mahé (Beau Vallon, Seychelles, lat -4.620° long 55.440°) 1347 km from English Hamar (Banaadir, Somalia) Indonesian Lette (Indonesia, lat -5.150° long 119.410°) 516 km from Indonesian Balikpapan (Kalimantan Timur, Indonesia) Spanish San Juan de Miraflores (Loreto, Peru, lat -3.760° long -73.270°) 458 km from Spanish San Martin (San Martin, Peru) Chinese Hotan (Xinjiang, China, lat 37.110° long 79.920°) 431 km from Chinese Kaschgar (Xinjiang, China) Arabic Ara`ar (Al Hudud ash Shamaliyah, Saudi Arabia, lat 30.980° long 41.030°) 390 km from Arabic Hael (Ha'il, Saudi Arabia) Japanese Nase (Kagoshima, Japan, lat 28.380° long 129.490°) 248 km from Japanese Nago (Okinawa, Japan) Thai Amphoe Muang Ranong (Ranong, Thailand, lat 9.970° long 98.640°) 225 km from Thai Amphoe Muang Nakhon Si Thammarat (Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand) Norwegian Guovdagæidno (Finnmark, Norway, lat 69.010° long 23.040°) 107 km from Norwegian Bosekop (Finnmark, Norway) Finnish Kansela (Oulu, Finland, lat 65.970° long 29.170°) 98 km from Finnish Märkäjärvi (Lapland, Finland) Romanian Sisesti (Gorj, Romania, lat 45.060° long 23.300°) 68 km from Romanian Drobeta-Turnu Severin (Mehedinti, Romania) Italian Nuoro (Sardegna, Italy, lat 40.320° long 9.330°) 60 km from Italian Santu Lussurgiu (Sardegna, Italy) Polish Vlodava (Poland, lat 51.550° long 23.550°) 45 km from Polish Bielawin (Poland) Korean Bontoku (Kyongsang-bukto, Korea, lat 36.410° long 129.370°) 43 km from Korean Eijitsu (Kyongsang-bukto, Korea) German Monplaisir (Brandenburg, Germany, lat 53.060° long 14.270°) 39 km from German Prenzlau (Brandenburg, Germany) Belgian Westerschelling (Friesland, Netherlands, lat 53.360° long 5.220°) 25 km from Belgian Harlingen (Friesland, Netherlands)

Most Remote — nearest city searching in different language

Cities, by language, most distant from their closest city, which is foreign (i.e. searching in a different language).

French Papeete (French Polynesia, lat -17.540° long -149.570°) 2287 km from English Fusi (American Samoa, United States) Russian Yakutsk (Sakha, Russian Federation, lat 62.040° long 129.750°) 1119 km from Chinese Kuchiku (Heilongjiang, China) Dutch Godthaab (Vestgronland, Greenland, lat 64.180° long -51.720°) 818 km from English Frobisher Bay (Nunavut, Canada) Portuguese Boa Vista (Roraima, Brazil, lat 2.820° long -60.670°) 522 km from English Albouystown (Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana) Turkish Thospia (Van, Turkey, lat 38.490° long 43.380°) 177 km from English Sangar-e Beru Khan (Azarbayjan-e Bakhtari, Iran) Swedish Lofsdalen (Jamtlands Lan, Sweden, lat 62.120° long 13.270°) 106 km from Norwegian Nybergsund (Hedmark, Norway)

Top 10 Locations

About 10% of all searches come from the top 10 locations.

English New York (United States) French Paris (France) Turkish Istanbul (Turkey) English London (United Kingdom) Portuguese Sao Paolo (Brazil) English Miami (United States) German Berlin (Germany) Spanish Madrid (Spain) Spanish Mexico City (Mexico) Thai Bangkok (Thailand)

I am surprised to see Miami here (bored retirees?) as well as Istanbul — I don't have a theory for that one.

Top 100 Locations

38% of all searches come from the top 100 locations (out of 22,826), with English dominating (33/100) followed by Spanish (11/100).

The full breakdown for the top 100 locations by language is English (33), Spanish (11), German (8), Japanese (6), Dutch (6), Portuguese (5), French (5), Turkish (4), Italian (4), Chinese (4), Russian (3), Arabic (3), Polish (2), Thai (1), Swedish (1), Romanian (1), Korean (1), Indonesian (1), Finnish (1).

By country, the top 100 locations fall in United States (11), Germany (6), India (6), Japan (6), Brazil (5), United Kingdom (5), Italy (4), Turkey (4), Australia (3), France (3), Mexico (3), Russian Federation (3), Canada (2), China (2), Colombia (2), Poland (2), Saudi Arabia (2), Spain (2), Vietnam (2), Algeria (1), Argentina (1), Austria (1), Chile (1), Egypt (1), Finland (1), Greece (1), Hong Kong (1), Hungary (1), Indonesia (1), Ireland (1), Israel (1), Korea (1), Malaysia (1), Peru (1), Philippines (1), Romania (1), Serbia (1), Singapore (1), Sweden (1), Switzerland (1), Taiwan (1), Thailand (1), Tunisia (1), Ukraine (1), United Arab Emirates (1), Venezuela (1)

The top 100 locations are