CMU mapping urban neighborhoods using social media (Pittsburgh, Liberty: live, gyms)

[BrianTH]

This is an interesting project:

CMU redrawing the neighborhood map - Pittsburgh Business Times

In Pittsburgh, the research found that the traditional neighborhood lines are starting to blur. For instance, parts of Shadyside and East Liberty are starting to spill over, especially with the young people. Also, Shadyside has two demographically distinct “Livehoods,” one is older and concentrated in the west part of the neighborhood and the other is younger and considered more “indie” and in the east. Both are observations that can be made anecdotally by anyone spending time in those neighborhoods but now there is constantly updating data to point to. The research is based on 42,787 check-ins by 3,840 users to 5,349 venues.

Here is the Pittsburgh map:

Livehoods: Pittsburgh

One interesting thing I noted is they identified several distinct subneighborhoods Downtown.

[ML North]

This map also supports the idea that the City's business hubs are centered on three areas: Downtown, Oakland, and 'Sliberty.

[UKyank]

This tool has to be taken with a grain of salt for reading anything into it more then it is (where those using certain social media go) - as it relies on people 'checking in' via foursquare at locations which is something that appeals more towards the tech savvy hipster sect (not used here in a negative way) or others wanting to show off where they are hence just a quick look around my neighborhood shows places ranked highly in popularity that are definitely not so in terms of actual numbers of people that go there in real life (though there is also overlap of places that are legitimately ranked highly in the tool as well as actual bodies that go there) ....if any of that made sense.

Edit - the article may touch on this, but I can only read the first couple of paragraphs thanks to a blocking type software on the computers here..

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by UKyank

....if any of that made sense.

That did make sense, and I agree it probably shouldn't be used for the purpose of ranking the relative popularity of places.

On the other hand, I wonder if it might still be useful for identifying real-world neighborhoods and subneighborhoods. I guess the question would be whether the real-world 'hoods of the those who use this technology are likely to be substantially the same as the real-world 'hoods of those who don't.

And come to think of it, if those sets of real-world 'hoods didn't match, that would itself be interesting--you might need different neighborhood maps for different subpopulations.

[sskink]

Originally Posted by UKyank

This tool has to be taken with a grain of salt for reading anything into it more then it is (where those using certain social media go) - as it relies on people 'checking in' via foursquare at locations which is something that appeals more towards the tech savvy hipster sect (not used here in a negative way) or others wanting to show off where they are hence just a quick look around my neighborhood shows places ranked highly in popularity that are definitely not so in terms of actual numbers of people that go there in real life (though there is also overlap of places that are legitimately ranked highly in the tool as well as actual bodies that go there) ....if any of that made sense.

I'm too lazy to put together a Venn chart on this, but most serious techies I personally know don't use Foursquare. The ones that do are generally social media consultants/developers themselves. It's much more a vanity.

And speaking as a former small biz owner who was located in an area with more mature demographics, it's all but useless when your clientele skews over 30.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by sskink

I'm too lazy to put together a Venn chart on this, but most serious techies I personally know don't use Foursquare. The ones that do are generally social media consultants/developers themselves. It's much more a vanity

I'm surprised that gyms aren't higher up on the list as that seems to be the #1 place people like to check into & let everyone know their there that I've noticed on Facebook anyways.

[BrianTH]

I might also note that while this particular technology may only be used by a limited subset, I strongly suspect public locational data like this is going to become more and more common as smartphones continue to penetrate the market.

[cheezit34141988]

As cool as this is...it kinda weirds me out. Happy I got rid of my Facebook/Twitter.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by dtrtrggr13

As cool as this is...it kinda weirds me out. Happy I got rid of my Facebook/Twitter.

Me too, actually, but I am happy to get information from the people who don't seem to mind having almost everything they do be public knowledge.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Me too, actually, but I am happy to get information from the people who don't seem to mind having almost everything they do be public knowledge.

I'm soooo going to start cyber-stalking you on Facebook!