Map matters: Facebook map shows geographic fandom of preseason Top 25
(via Facebook)
In a neat little project, here's a map of college football fans broken down by region, using data from the number of "likes" a team has on Facebook. Maps and data are fun, and so is football. It's always important to be target="_blank">playing this while talking about cartography-related endeavors.
Obviously, this map is a bit misleading since it only features schools in the AP Poll Top 25, so it looks like West Virginia is ALL OHIO STATE fans, despite the fact that we know a lot of West Virginia roots for WVU and Penn State and Pitt (and Marshall!).
Here are some other observations:
• Speaking of Ohio State, how is it reaching into Alaska? I'm from Ohio, and there is no way I'm moving to Alaska, ever. I'm sure it's nice, but I've had my fill of cold. I imagine moving to Alaska is like asking everyone in a room to punch you in the stomach, then going into another room and asking everyone to punch you in the face. At some point, it's just too much.
• The Gators are Florida's team. Which is a bit sad, in a way, but I guess Ryan Lochte is a much bigger star than we all originally thought.
• What is going on in that one county in California? Why are there Texas fans there?
• Nebraska's reach extends a lot further than I thought it did.
• I'm a little surprised Notre Dame doesn't have a bigger portion of the map than it does. There are a lot of Irish fans all over the U.S. I figured there would be gold sprinkles all over the map.
What else do y'all see? Any giant realizations or insights into #maps? Leave them in comments.