With Google Maps data in hand, geobloggers Floating Sheep have mapped the number of bars versus grocery stores in subregions across America. Orange represents grocery stores, red represents bars. As you can see, the only areas where bars seem to have grocery stores licked are the West North Central and Rocky Mountain states:
The Google Maps API isn’t bulletproof, especially when it leads to such surprising conclusions: One FlowingData commenter writes, “I might question some of the methodology as a manual search on a google map shows more bars in nearly all places. Additionally, social pressures (both moral and status seeking) in categorizing your business or hangout may play a role. When I lived in smalltown German-descent IL, a bar was a bar. Now that I am in Atlanta, many call themselves restaurants or brewpubs or lounges. Though, that might beg the question…is Boston more willing to admit that they drink at bars than Chicago?” Still, it’s a testament to the sort of neat, thought-provoking data crunching you can do with moxie and Google’s APIs.
(Floating Sheep via FlowingData)
