Google Proximity: Informational Distance Between Cities

June 13, 2008 12:30pm by

Fascinating infographic showing the "Google-Platonic: distances between cities.

It measures the intensity of relations — interconnections, information, transactions — between metropolitan areas.

It works by comparing the number of pages from different cities that appear close to each other online, with the number of pages that are isolated — the "Google proximity" of differing Cities

Pretty damned cool:

Asia
Asia_informational_distance

USA & Europe, Polar View
Ny_europe_informational_distance

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What's been said:

Discussions found on the web:
  1. Michael F. Martin commented on Jun 13

    If we exchange information fast enough, will we be able to turn back time like Superman?!

  2. Fritz S commented on Jun 13

    It’s as if Asian countries do not communicate with each other in a robust way.

  3. estaban commented on Jun 13

    So maybe the thick line is New York or London.

  4. Caleb Mardini commented on Jun 13

    This is actually a phenomenon that has been studied in geography for some time. Populations and distance function similar to mass and distance in physics.

    This is a pretty cool representation.

  5. Lord commented on Jun 13

    Wow! Chicago and Los Angeles don’t exist. (Maybe they are missing a few locations.)

  6. mappo commented on Jun 13

    It’s pretty, but damn could they use some cartographic guidance. The varying intensity of the relationships would be much more apparent if they varied the color (either hue or saturation) of the lines rather than the thickness. And what does the height of the arcs represent? Is that random or does it mean something?

  7. Giovannoni commented on Jun 13

    this website is pure genius.

  8. Sinomania! commented on Jun 13

    Looks like it’s still all about New York & London

  9. jmay commented on Jun 13

    The following is a Super-secret chart that I got from the Commodore 64 internet department. It shows how there are connections between stuff.

    ….New York—————– Shanghai———- Waukegan, IL
    …… xx…………………………..xXx…………………………. xXXx……..
    ……. ………………………… /……………………………… /…………
    ……………………………….. /……………………………… /………….
    ……….. ……Paris…………/…….. ……..Mumbai — Notting Hill
    ……………….xxx ——–LAX Airport——–xx………./…………..
    ………………../…………./……………………../………./…………..
    ………………./………… /……………………../………./……………
    ……Ft. lauderdale…Hong Kong……………/………./……………
    ……………xxx………..xXx………The KMart on ……/……………
    ………………………………………….. Route 14 …. Kevin Bacon
    ……………………………………………… xXx …………..xxxXx……..

    Chart porn! Yeah!

  10. Konrad commented on Jun 13

    It looks cool but it violates just about every rule of Tufte regarding visual representation of information. When you are looking at one side of the globe it’s hard to tell where the lines connect on the other side. Classic chartjunk…

  11. dryfly commented on Jun 13

    Wow! Chicago and Los Angeles don’t exist. (Maybe they are missing a few locations.)

    Posted by: Lord | Jun 13, 2008 1:29:43 PM

    Then there is Iceland – a red dot with NOTHING coming out… whattsup with that?

  12. schaz commented on Jun 13

    Caleb Mardini | Jun 13, 2008 1:19:03 PM

    –what about sillycon valley?

  13. Kaleberg commented on Jun 13

    Wow, that’s a pretty useless graphic. Wouldn’t it have made more sense if the lines connecting cities ran along the earth’s surface, ideally on a flat projection instead of a sphere, so we could see which cities were linked to which other cities without having to get the screen all gummy by tracing the lines?

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