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Tell HN: Go to Google Maps. Type Your Twitter Handle (with @)

12 pointshodgesmr24 comments

This is getting mixed results from people. For some, it's gives a pretty accurate location of either where you are or a place you go. For others, not so much.

I don't geotag tweets, and it still did a pretty good job. It appears to be content based.

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So after giving it some thought and doing some additional research it looks like they are building a superdetailed graph based on your relations, textual content etc. etc., try and determine and geocode locations based on the analyzed data and then plot those locations through Google Maps. It looks like it is even smart enough to go through your followers, determine the kind of relationship you have with that particular person, and if you and the other person are closely related enough pick certain locations up from their timeline and share those locations between your profile and that of the other person (something which supposedly has happened to a friend of mine given the returned data.)

Anyway, not scary at all, nope. </sarcasm>

It pinpointed an (old) address for my future workplace and I haven't even started there yet, presumably because I follow several of my future co-workers.

This is pretty scary actually, it managed to pinpoint me to locations that I hadn't mentioned on Twitter at all, incluing where I work.

I've since determined that Google scrapes our corporate website, which lists employees.

Just did a small test: It gave the approximate location of my office (luckily off a few streets, so my privacy is not too badly damaged).

Coincidentally, my office is the only spot where I am logged in to Twitter using Google Chrome. Using Firefox at home.

UPDATE: If your Twitter handle gives a false result at first, try prefixing it with the term: twitter

E.g. 'twitter @whateveryourhandleis'

Interesting.

I'm licensed through a company called Shirlaws Group - Australian HQ is where I work in Brisbane; global HQ is London. Google Maps pins 'me' at Shirlaws motorcycles in Aberdeen, Scotland.

So it's smart enough to make some connection "Jacob Aldridge = Shirlaws" but must be missing some wider data or geo information.

Mine goes to University of Michigan...which is a different country altogether.

Just tried @Obama, Guantanamo Bay Detention camp.

@potus is super accurate - the White House...

I was put into the Yankee Stadium (@bopfger). It must be able to read my mind as I would love to be there. Not sure, how Google would put me there, though as I have never been there and never tweeted from New York either.

I've got "Columbus Ohio" listed right in my twitter bio (as a location rather than just included as text) and GMaps went directly to some swimming related retail business in Valencia, CA, weird.

Mine is somewhat accurate, I was here a month ago. http://imgur.com/8m8tbr2

Pretty terrible result frankly. I geocode a number of tweets, but it shows my "location" as that of the office for a company I've conversed with here in Thailand.

Doesn't seem to work for me, anything special you have to do? Maybe the feature is locale dependent. Could you post a link if it's serialized in the url?

Doesn't seem to work here (Finland) either.

Works for me. (Finland also)

It gave a city outside my hometown. I've definitely never used twitter there, so I'm puzzled as to why.

perfect. plus random sampling of my follower/ees was dead on to their business location.

Hahahahahahah I got CERN labs in Switzerland. I'm pretty excited about that actually.

@bartozone

The result it gave me is in a country I've never set foot in.

Mine returned the last account I tweeted at, Puma's HQ...

Mine and the few friends I tried are nowhere close.

With my handle (@go), I get a store in Poland.

I got the whitehouse and I am not sure why.

I got Avebury's Stone Circle... wtf

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