The Flickring, Twittering lights of London: How social networking breaks down by district... among other bright spots in the world




At first glance, this image seems to show how light pollution blights Britain’s capital.

But this is no satellite photo from space. Instead, it is a map that reveals how keen Londoners are on social networking.

Created by Eric Fischer, it combines data from the photo-sharing website Flickr and the micro-messaging network Twitter favoured by celebrities.

London: Red dots represent Flickr pictures while the blue dots are tweets. The white dots seen in the centre are locations that have been posted to both. The map, created by Eric Fischer, reveals Twitter is used across the city of eight million people, while geo-tagged Flickr snaps are clustered south of the River Thames

The red dots represent Flickr pictures while the blue dots are tweets. The white dots seen in central London are locations that have been posted to both.

The map reveals Twitter is used across the metropolis of eight million people, while geo-tagged Flickr snaps are clustered south of the Thames, the river that is often seen as a cultural divide in the city.



The meandering river itself is mostly red, indicating the increased number of tourists taking photos and then uploading them to Flickr.



Mr Fischer has applied his magic to other big cities, including New York, Barcelona and Tokyo – as well as the entire globe.

He focuses on the continents of Europe and North America, where computer and internet usage is most prolific.

New York: Twitter is dominant, while Flickr hotspots include parts of Queens and Brooklyn. The white light of Downtown Manhattan concentrates both media forms



Barcelona: The coastal areas around the Barcelona, Spain, are where Flickr is used most - perhaps indicating more tourist photos, while inland Twitter usage reigns



Tokyo: The blue dots of Twitter usage spread out like spider legs from the city centre - reflecting densely populated communities living beside major roads into town



New Orleans: Flickr use is largely confined within the Mississippi in the south and Lake Pontchartrain in the north. Both media are used widely in the French Quarter



However, particularly in the case of the more densely populated Europe, the colours merge more into a general pattern of light than in the case of the big views of individual cities.

Within North America, the brightest parts are at the coasts and the Tweeter and Flickr usage becomes less the more one travels into the heart of the U.S. and north of the southern strip of Canada.

Europe is surrounded by almost complete darkness at its edge.

The World: Europe and North America are the brightest spots, indicating the most concentrated use of Twitter and Flickr. Other bright spots include Indonesia and Japan



Europe: Britain is the brightest spot, indicating high internet use, with the red dots of Flickr the predominate colour of the continent - until petering out east and south



North America: The brightest parts are at the coasts and Tweeter and Flickr usage becomes less as the more one travels into the heart of the U.S. and north of Canada

Answering comments on his Flickr feed, Mr Fischer revealed it takes 40 minutes to set up file data and 3 minutes to produce the image.

He added that the programme ‘runs through the photos/tweets in chronological order, plotting the earliest ones the most brightly and stepping the brightness down for points that don't show up for the first time until later on.

‘Points are also allowed to diffuse by a few pixels when there is an additional record for a point that is already plotted, with the brightness falling off exponentially as the point that is actually plotted gets further from its intended location.