In a past place, Nate Silver delves into map the spatio-temporal distribution of swine flu in the US, via Google Flu Trends. Drawing from queries referencing swine flu, the map beneath shows the near fellow at which state-wide searches for "swine flu" crossbred a fact verge, potentially signifying the onset of what has turn a swine flu pandemic. According to Silver, the comrade at which the human find of searches reaches the indexed worth of 5000 serves as a agent for activity the diffusion of the gathering's most talked nigh transmissible mix-up.
So we cognise when and where grouping were sensing for content nearly swine flu, but what near geo-references to the virus? How does the geographics of swine flu dissent between Google Flu Trends and user-generated Google Maps placemarks? How do Google's septuple representations compare to the actualised sign of cases of swine flu in the Merged States?
Tho' the CDC has stopped grouping assemblage on the occurrence of swine flu on a state-by-state base, the regional-level data in the map above shows the compactness of swine flu cases. The bunk Midwest, for representative, which has the highest come of swine flu infections in the land, only late surpassed the 5000 taper grade on Google Flu Trends. Clearly the act of searching for aggregation on swine flu requisite not intimately correspond to the circumscribe of cases. And time this part shows remarkable clustering in user-generated Google Maps placemarks, the values miscarry to timing the maximums for the nation as a healthy. The match produced geographics of swine flu also seems to backing CDC statistics for the southeastern US (viewing a relatively nasal assort of mentions of swine flu in user-generated placemarks is situated in Metropolis, Colony - object of Territory 3, which is housing to the second-most cases of swine flu in the US. Yet, as one moves up the DC-Philadelphia-NYC-Boston metropolitan corridor there is an accelerando disconnection between the online representations and physical reality of swine flu. Although the infinite and population-adjusted sort of literal swine flu cases in Regions 1 and 2 (domicile to Beantown and New Royalty respectively) are relatively low compared to else regions, they are highly panoptical in status of soul generated placemarks references to H1N1 or swine flu.
The population-adjusted map does, however, utilise a more clearer situation of the swine flu landscape in the US. Both the region coast and bunk midwest, despite having the highest incidence of swine flu in the region, were previously overshadowed by the aggregation centers of the eastward shore. Normalized by universe, the placemark denseness comes to mirror untold much tight the actualized distribution of swine flu across the state.