Geograph - community-driven geography

in internet on 2014-09-04 19:57 (#2S2F)

Data journalist Carl Bialik profiles a fascinating user-driven website that combines photography, geography and big data:

Want to know what a website looked like in the past? The Internet Archive has you covered. But there's no Wayback Machine for the world, and how it looked.

There is, however, one for the British Isles. It is called Geograph, and it contains photos of 97 percent of the 244,034 one-kilometer squares of Great Britain.

In the article he discusses Geograph's history and future plans, interviewing a dozen of the most prolific contributors along the way.

What do you think are some of the best uses for their data set? Would you contribute if Geograph expanded to your area?

Britain (Score: 2, Insightful)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2014-09-05 12:19 (#2S38)

This makes sense as a project for a place like the UK, which is an island(s), limited territory, and unabashedly gorgeous. It seems, psychologically, like an achievable goal, and that makes it enticing and even exciting. It would be more daunting for a place like the USA just because it's such an immense territory. I'd love to contribute though - it's interesting and useful in a way that GoogleEarth isn't, and actually gives you a chance to experience the flavor of a place, not just its geoform.

It would be interesting to do other islands as well, maybe places like Iceland or parts of the South Pacific. Imagine doing something like Australia though: huge expanses and many sections geographically nondescript. That's a lot of work. Same goes for some urban blights like Lagos - miles and miles and miles of the same.