Streetscapes
Open Data on streets and squares as an archive of both language and history
Kai Biermann and his team at ZEIT ONLINE were nominated in the shortlist of the Data Journalism Awards in the category data visualisation of the year 2018 with their project Streetscapes. Their idea is based on an interactive map visualising the names of squares and streets - not just their current names but all names the square or street was named throughout history.
Conventional map tools would not allow for that feature so the team at ZEIT ONLINE programmed a searchable database allowing to analyse and visualise the patters in the distribution of the 450,000 names. "Streets and squares are an archive of both language and history." states the team: "They tell the story of almost forgotten artists and historical events, they shed light on obsolete economic structures and trade routes, on dialects and on idioms imported from abroad." Find patterns about your neighbourhood and share the results on Twitter or Facebook.