Oh give me a home....

Every time I either drive or fly in and out of Los Angeles I think about moving. I grew up in a small town and being surrounded by so many people and so much stuff can be kind of clausterphobic. Plus it's hard to imagine having a family here. And houses cost a LOT of money. So I was interested when Barry Ritholtz (an investment professional cum financial blogger) commented on a site at Forbes about where Americans are moving (using IRS data).





(Look, people move to LA from the east coast and then from LA to the South and the west coast).

This tool would be a great compliment to Richard Florida's "Who's Your City" website (and book too, although I haven't read it). Choosing where to live is a multi-dimensional problem that is hard to contemplate. These sites are a great start.

Somewhat randomly the Wikipedia entry on Who's Your City says that my boy Tim Harford has been critical of the book. This couldn't be verified because Wikipedia's source was an article in Canadian Geographer (which I don't have access to) and the only mention I could find was Tim referencing Florida's work.

Maps Show Data Good

As you may or may not know, I think maps area perhaps the great information communication medium the world has ever seen. Not that I'm given to hyperbole or anything. From Matthew Yglesias comes this series of color coded maps that explains on a state-by-state basis how different age groups and income levels feel about the public option in the current raging health care debate. (Quick aside - a public option is a good thing but I won't write anything more because I don't want to have to tag this post as a rant).

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

As the year comes to an end I've been taking inventory of the old blog and noticed that during the Summer my posting fell from my typical inconsistency of ~1 every 7-10 days to 1 in July and none in August. Well it turns out that I was taking 2 classes (1 each at UCLA and USC) and working and not posting. The USC class was my last class in the GIST Certificate program (I'm certified!). A week in Catalina that include lots of hiking, playing with GPS units, and a night snorkel (yeah, it was a-freaking-mazing). The UCLA class was equally awesome - Geography of Los Angeles. We explored a ton of themes and did a bunch of field trips (a trip to the LA River led by nature writer Jenny Price, Westwood walkabout including this apartment building designed by Lautner, and taking a Metro bus up and down Sunset Blvd.).

My partner and I did a final project on the LA River. We had to create a tour, make a google map (below), and then do a short presentation in the Pecha Kucha style (Wikipedia). Pecha Kucha limits your presentation to 20 slides and 20 seconds for each slide. So you have to choose images with maximum impact, choose your words carefully, and practice. It's great, I wish that my work presentations had similar constraints.


View LA River Map in a larger map

McDonald's Map!

Via Felix Salmon comes this sweet picture by Stephen Von Worley that presents a visualization of McDonald's restaurant concentrations in the US. Crazy!



So South Dakota, you are the winner! (that doesn't explain how you are still the 16th fattest state)

Even more intriguing about Worley's site was his link to Strange Maps. Whoa. Let me say again: WHOA.

ComputerLove - Google Maps Typography

Fortunately for me my sister is awesome. Not only is she a talented artist (one of the websites that she designed the artwork for was recently highlighted in the Huffington Post), but she also finds time in her busy day to forward me cool links like this collection of photographs gleaned from Google Maps.

The prior link is a collection of pictures were found on Google Maps that resemble the letters A-Z. Some are man made, some natural. Pretty cool.

Lat Long Answers!

Evidently I dominated Google's latest Where In The World Is... contest, although I should have paid more attention to the other Google LatLong blog posts because if I had spent more time reading about the Great Lakes in the post about the United States' Third Coast I would have found the answer to the bonus question. Oh well, next time Google, next time.

Best Beer Bars in LA

View Toddmartens's List of Best Beer Bars in a larger map

I was perusing the LA Times today and a nice little list caught my eye. Seems like Todd Martens, a staff member, compiled a list of 24 beer bars in the greater LA area. I've been to more than a few of these places, and some have multiple locations (Yardhouse, Father's office, etc.). Missing from the list and deserving mention, although not quite technically a bar, is The Golden State Cafe. They have a GREAT beer selection and food (and even better owners!).

Martens also has a list of LA's best microbreweries but it seems just a tad incomplete (no mention of Manhattan Beach Brewing Company or no shout-out to the no-longer-a-brewery-but-still-has-giant-vats-in-the-bar Westwood Brewco?). Although to Golden State's credit they do carry Craftsman beer on tap.

Google LatLong: Where in the world is ...

The Google LatLong blog sometimes has fun little exercises for finding interesting places in the world. In the latest version of Google LatLong: Where in the world is ... I think I was able to come up with the first ten but not the bonus question.

In order:
1) Los Angeles
2) Las Vegas
3) San Francisco (Coit Tower)
4) San Sebastian
5) Pittsburgh
6) Ottowa
7) Helsinki
8) Auckland
9) Cincinnati
10) Girona (Near barcelona)

Anybody have any idea on number 11?