This Is Now

I recently came across a project called ‘This Is Now‘. As described on the site itself, it’s “a visual composition which uses real-time updates from Instagram based on users’ geotagged locations. The tool streams photos instantly as soon as they are uploaded and captures a city’s movements, in a fluid story.”

So basically, it looks at the geotags of public photos on Instagram, and lets you browse by city to see exactly what that city’s residents are seeing (or sharing, rather). It’s kind of like a webcam of a city, only it’s made of up hundreds (sometimes thousands) of lenses in the hands of the citizens. What an awesome way to explore our world.

Some of my favorite things to do with This Is Now is to find a city in the early morning hours – see what folks in that part of the world see as they wake up and start their days. Similar, find one at lunchtime to see what folks are chowing down on, in the evening to see how they relax. The possibilities are endless.

Also, make sure that (when appropriate) you geotag your photos on Instagram/Flickr/etc so that others can share things like this. I’m ‘rcadden‘ on Instagram if you want to see mine.