KFC vs McDonalds: An Epic Battle

A few of months ago, we featured a series of maps depicting fictional battles between the prominent mascots of KFC and McDonalds: Colonel Sanders and Ronald McDonald. Besides the fact that someone (ahem, Mark) forgot that we had already posted these maps, we thought that it was worth connecting our analysis to some recent discoveries, especially through a Lucasian theoretical framework.

Some historical background is provided in the video below for any readers unfamiliar with this theoretical formulation.



Our original series of maps (see one replicated below) shows distinct geographic patterns of influence for the two fast-food chains. McDonalds is dominant in much of the world, being especially visible in Europe (particularly in the Netherlands for some reason). The Colonel, on the other hand, has a strong redoubt in the south and west of the United States. However, this area is not nearly as homogeneous of a fast-food landscape as the Ronald McDonald's stronghold in Europe.




Of course, given the concentration of McDonalds in Amsterdam and Europe, we can't but help to wonder of we need to make Quentin Tarantino a honorary member of the Floatingsheep collective.

Jedi Knights as a Religious Phenomenon

As a non-religious person, I'm not sure how I feel about the fictional protagonists of my all-time favorite movies being turned into a quasi-religious sect. But that's exactly what's happened with the Jedi Knights of Star Wars. From the worldwide movement in 2001 to list Jedi as one's religious preference to the current debate over the axing of Canada's long-form census, the Jedi have long permeated the boundary between reality and fantasy. With their locations visible in Google Maps, we now have evidence that have they also permeated the boundary between materiality and virtuality [1].
This map comes from a paper we're currently working on about the cyberscapes of religion in Google Maps. Using the absolute number of references to "Jedi" in the Google Maps database as our measurement, we thought that mapping these references in the UK would present an excellent opportunity to blur the boundaries between the sacred and the farcical.

Although the concentration of most geotagged content can be explained by population density, references to Jedi conform to a more unique spatial distribution. The greatest number of references to Jedi exist in and around the cities of Manchester, Nottingham and Birmingham - all fairly large in their own right - rather than in the capital and largest city of London. It's also interesting to note that most of England has some level of references to Jedi, perhaps indicating a general level of interest across the country.

And yet, based on the actual counts from the 2001 census, the three cities with the most virtual references do not represent either the greatest absolute number of Jedi (that would be Leeds with 7,543) or the greatest number of Jedi as a percentage of the total population (Brighton and Hove with 2.6%). While both Nottingham (#12) and Manchester (#19) rank highly with Jedi as a percentage of the total population, Birmingham is ranked just #227 with just 0.6% of the population declaring themselves Jedi.

So what makes them so prevalent by our measure? Are these the locations of new, secret Jedi academies? Is there an important force nexus present somewhere in one of these cities? Any clues or suggestions welcome...

[1] We currently have no evidence that this virtual representation of Jedi within Google Maps has anything to do with the mystical powers of the Force.

Exploring Google Maps to Find Sesame Street

Children's educational television shows make everyone a bit nostalgic, regardless of when one grew up or which particular show was their favorite (I'll always be a bit partial to Ringo Starr and George Carlin as the conductor on Shining Time Station). But with the characters of these shows becoming more fully integrated with the brands they represent, a seemingly endless number of opportunities are available to promote one show over another.

New School v. Old School, Dora v. Oscar

Using the traditional Floatingsheep method of comparing Google Maps references to a number of keywords in order to highlight where one keyword is prevalent over many others, we've mapped references to Sesame Street classic Oscar the Grouch and 21st century bilingual girl-wonder, Dora the Explorer.

The homogeneity of references can only mean one thing: because of her connection to a younger, presumably more hip and technologically adept fan base, Dora has cornered the virtual market of Google Maps. Alternatively, we could chalk this up to the lingering ambiguity of where exactly Sesame Street is.

Regardless of this, Oscar is likely in a trash can somewhere complaining about the biases of our method and how maps don't really represent reality.

Have the sheep conquered racism?

One certainly doesn't need to look far to see evidence of the persistence of racism in our world today. And while it may not seem obvious, our kindred sheep (of the non-floating variety) are no strangers to such discrimination. How would it feel to literally be a black sheep? Probably not so good.

In a surprising move, it appears the sheep of the world (or humans, acting as a proxy for their fleeced friends) have made a concerted effort to counteract such pervasive racism in the virtual realm. As the map below shows, at all but around 100 randomly distributed points on the earth's surface, Google Maps references to "sheep" outnumber references to the infamous "Ku Klux Klan".

Sheep contra the Ku Klux Klan

This map, of course, does not take into account the potential that many of these references to sheep are actually related to an ongoing intra-species dispute over whose wool is the finest of all, a dispute indubitably wrapped up in its own forms of racist and nationalist language, thus only perpetuating the racism they have seemingly defeated. If only we could decipher all those placemarks that just say "baaaaaaaaaahh".

Floatingsheep in the Lexington Herald-Leader, or Santa Likes it Hot

Sometimes analog is better than digital. This is especially true when being featured on the front page of the the Lexington Herald-Leader on Christmas Eve. Belated scans of the newspaper article about our Christmassy maps are below...

Unintentional map art

It's not quite toying with map projections, but sometimes trial-and-error in choosing map symbology can lead to some pretty interesting errors...
You can barely make out the outlines of the United States (including Hawaii and Alaska), Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean under the blanket of graduated circles. In the end, we decided to go with an amended symbology, as we felt that the message conveyed by this map was a bit less informative that we would like.

Happy Holidays from Floatingsheep.org

With good tidings from all of us, the Floatingsheep team wishes you all a very happy holiday season, no matter your religious preference. With Christmas coming soon, we don't want you to go out chasing Old Saint Nick, as we're still a bit unsure of his whereabouts. We are sure, however, that our investigative work on Christmassy geographies is featured in the December 24th edition of the Lexington Herald-Leader. From the article:

Deep in the bowels of the geography department earlier this month, while Zook was engaged in his real work on how people use spatially based Internet data, he thought he'd come up with what passes for academic humor. He wondered how he could locate the exact whereabouts of Santa (because, really, who doesn't want to know this?) and torture his graduate students (and, really, who doesn't want to do this?) at the same time.

Enjoy the write-up by Amy Wilson and your holiday celebration, no matter where you may be. And if you're really that concerned about where Santa is, you can always track him on Google Maps throughout Christmas Eve. HO HO HO!

Searching for Santa: Locating the most Christmassy Points in the World

A question asked by children and adults for generations has been, "Where does Santa live?" While some may scoff that there is an obvious answer to this ("The North Pole") any rational thinker easily sees why that simply cannot be. The lack of a suitable landmass to construct the necessary castle and workshops, the deficit of a robust power grid and the complete absence of basic raw materials like wood, plastic or sugared plums, make the North Pole a poor location for any sort of industrial- or craft-style production. Moreover, the modern obsession with planting flags (both above and beneath the ice) guarantees a steady stream of unwanted (and potentially naughty) visitors.

It is far more reasonable to suppose that Santa has utilized a combination of locational analysis, centrography, transportation topographies and central place theory to select an optimal site for his headquarters. However, since access to his list of priorities (including secrecy) and model specifications is closely guarded, replicating Santa's thinking process is simply not possible.

Instead the Anglo-American research team of FloatingSheep.org decided to leverage the power of Web 2.0 technologies (user produced services and content) to triangulate Santa's location. After all the collective knowledge of the Internet is clearly more than any one of us alone. Right? Right?

Using the patented FloatingSheep.org approach we searched for references to "santa" and "reindeer" in user generated placemarks indexed by Google Maps. After all, Santa and Reindeer go together almost as well as that classic cinema couple, Turner and Hooch. Unfortunately for lovers of folk tales, the polar projections below illustrate that there is a decided dearth of references to Santa at the North Pole.

Polar Projection of Santa

Instead we see that the entire Nordic region of Europe is covered in a virtual "duvet of Santa"! North America needs to be content with a much lighter "blanketing of St. Nick". If one assumes that Santa needs to be located as close to the pole as possible, then a few other extreme northern locations also emerge, such as the "coverlet-ing of Father Christmas" on Svalbard and the "quilt-ing of Pere Noel" on the Severnaya Zemlya archipeligo.

Polar Projection of Reindeer

Reindeer are much less prevalent than Santa (which is hard to understand given the 8:1 ratio) but the Nordic region, Svalbard and Alaska are all looking like strong contenders.

However, it is only when we amalgamate Santa and Reindeer together in some kind of googlistic geo-genetic goo that we are able to zero in on the exact locations of Santa's global enterprise. (And they called us MAD! We'll show them!) We will of course not reveal the exact locations (we're hoping for more than coal in our stockings) but will highlight the general areas.

The MegaChristmas Index – Global View

The MegaChristmas Index – Polar View

In retrospect it seems so obvious, but the most Christmassy points in the world are Los Angeles (measured in raw Christmasness) and near the town of Kittilä, Finland (measured in Christmasness per capita). Clearly in the 21st century, Santa has recognized the value of geographical diversification in order to leverage the competitive advantages of each location. Los Angeles offers access to the creative talent of show business and the technological innovation of a world class manufacturing milieu. Kittilä offers...Trees? Moss? Rare Lichen? Hmmm...as we are less familiar with Northern Finland as befits some one in today's networked society, the locational advantages of Kittilä must wait until another posting. Any Kittilä-ites (-onians? –ese? –ians?) are welcome to address this issue as well.

We were at first stymied by the strong showing of Angola for reindeer but upon reflection we theorize that this is a likely location of Santa's post-December vacation. According to this theory, Santa flies his reindeer team for several well deserved weeks of R&R incognito. Since reindeer, however, are not indigenous to tropical climates, their presence does not go unnoted. Likewise, trips to the Falkland Islands, New Zealand, Australia and Florida seem highly probably as well. It should be noted that this is simply a theory and unlike the rigorous analysis on the location of Santa's workshop, further research on this topic is needed.

Likewise we plan on taking a closer look at the sub-national networks of Santa's enterprise. The U.S. maps below confirm Southern California's Santaness but shows some highly suspicious clusters of reindeerness in Texas and Missouri. Do these represent regional distribution centers? R&D centers? Back office customer support? Only further research will tell.

Santa Normalized in the U.S.
Reindeer Normalized in the U.S.

So. Age old question answered through the judicious use of technology.

We just hope we don't end up on the naughty list for this.