Most Photographed NYC Attraction? 5th Ave Apple Store
By Barry Ritholtz - June 2nd, 2011, 6:30AM
This is insane stuff:
“Researcher Eric Fischer mapped and analyzed millions of photos on flicker that were taken throughout the city and looked at their geo-tagged information — such as time and date they were shot –to determine patterns of interest.
Although the sleek glass exterior of the Fifth Avenue Apple store gets the most pictures, Rockefeller Center (no. 2), Columbus Circle (no. 3) and Times Square (no. 4) were also on the list.”
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Photo density of Manhattan, via Flickr
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Source:
Apple Store is NYC Most Photographed Attraction
Samantha Murphy
TechNewsDaily 31 May 2011
http://www.livescience.com/14375-nyc-apple-store-photographed-attraction.html
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June 2nd, 2011 at 7:17 am
Not surprising. For fanbois, it’s the equivalent of St. Peter’s in Rome.
June 2nd, 2011 at 8:12 am
Talking about misleading headlines married to faulty data. This data point is totally useless as far as “information” goes. The headline should have been “flicker Most Photographed NYC Attraction”. Unless anyone here think that flicker pictures are a representative sample of all the pictures taken in NYC.
June 2nd, 2011 at 8:17 am
Probably the result of a combination of factors that happen to come together around Apple stores:
- Smartphone with GPS
- Person eager to try out their new phone
- Demographics in Apple Stores vs. other locations
- iPhone as social status symbol — letting people know they have one
It would be interesting to see the data with the first day’s photos removed. How many users ever come back to the Apple Store after their purchase to take a photo and post it?
June 2nd, 2011 at 9:08 am
At this point, flickr is probably a representative sample of photography. Photo sharing sites are very popular, even among those who are not very tech savvy. Just read some of the discussions on flickr, etc. A few years ago I’d have said there was a tech bent among those using digital cameras and posting, but not today.
June 2nd, 2011 at 9:11 am
Agree with Robespierre–it’s probably sample bias. I am not on Flicker and I’ve never photographed the Apple Store. (Anecdotal of course.)
No way to prove this, but my guess is that the most photographed attraction is the skyline from either the top of Rockefeller Center or the top of the Empire State building. And if I really was forced to guess, my guess would be that the most photographed would be south by slightly west side of the roof of Empire State building, accompanied by a muttered “so that’s where they used to be” as the picture is being taken.
June 2nd, 2011 at 9:26 am
@casual observer – compare the number of people on line to the roof at Rockefeller Center or the Empire State building to the number of people near the SE corner of central park
June 2nd, 2011 at 9:31 am
It’s also possible someone standing at the Apple store is facing the other direction and shooting either the Plaza Hotel (a very, very famous landmark) or Tiffany & Co., which is similarly iconic
If you are only looking at the data and not the photos themselves it would be pretty difficult to tell…
June 2nd, 2011 at 9:48 am
the skyline costs time & money to get up there – so nix .. Atlas and the Globe at the Rock yep and TimesSq definately
LOL @ fanbois St. Peter’s
as far as cells in general – a story .. was traveling Tuesday on the cycle to see a photog transplant from out east there and my Net10 401G* was pulling at the holster so I put it in my hoodie muff pocket and a passing 18wheeler blew it out (anyway) .. hit the road – seperated from the case – and as I was stomping on the brakes and hope’g the car behind me didn’t run it over – I see it seperate and do the opposite & equal reation thingie that velocity does
after 5 minutes of searching on the side of the road a passerby** stopped and asked whatsup .. I ask if he could ringie it up – he trys 4 times and no sounds .. figure its to close to the ground for signal / got seperated from the battery / just plain broke … well the phone was found 20 feet in front of the bike (case found) and about 4 feet into the 18 inch high grass … and it still worked – pictures & all intact with a little surface brushing
* its half glass 1/2 plastic
** was tellin him how its almost free with service and the pics from Memorial Day almost mean as much as to loosing it .. & I was starting to get worried the car behind me saw it too and they got the prize (doing the stop turn around) and maybe I better get service interrupted soon (the stuff you can do with that invention)
June 2nd, 2011 at 12:09 pm
Likely selection bias. Restated more clearly – Apple store is most photographed site in NYC by people who post photos on Flickr. The “Flickr photos are a representative sample of all photos” assumption is suspect.
June 2nd, 2011 at 12:34 pm
This obviously ties in with the recent news that the iphone is the most popular camera on Flickr. Makes you wonder what the most photographed builing on picasa is (Google HQ?)
June 3rd, 2011 at 3:07 am
[...] – Most photographed NYC attraction… [...]
June 3rd, 2011 at 8:54 am
@foosion and lalaland,
Understand but wonder if there’s a difference in ratios. In other words, as I look at my NYC pics (understand I am not representative because I only live two hours away and am only one data point), they are about 4 to 1 Top of Rock/Empire State versus on the street. In any event, Barry’s point was more that this was a pretty cool web data mining analysis, and with that I wholly agree.
June 7th, 2011 at 9:32 am
[...] L’Apple Store de la 5ème avenue, attraction la plus photographiée de NYC – The big picture [...]