Mac Store: 5th Most Photographed NYC Landmark

via yesthatkarim's Flickr

A recent Cornell University study [PDF] filed through Flickr pictures and determined photogs' favorite places and things. It found that New York City is the most frequently photographed location on Earth, with London and San Francisco following. The Empire State Building is the 7th most-photographed landmark. Twenty-eighth on the list? The glass-encased Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in Midtown.

The Mac store also made it onto the list of most-photographed places in the city, the Observer noted, coming in fifth after Times Square and Grand Central, but beating out perennial favorites like Liberty Island. According to a press release, Cornell was able to automatically identify places that people like to photograph using a new technique. "We developed classification methods for characterizing these locations from visual, textual and temporal features," says Daniel Huttenlocher, Professor of Computing, Information Science and Business. "These methods reveal that both visual and temporal features improve the ability to estimate the location of a photo compared to using just textual tags."

The press release suggests the technique raises "the intriguing possibility of an online travel guidebook that could automatically identify the best sites to visit on your next vacation." Or if you live in the city, a handy guide of sites to avoid at all costs.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Sabrina Jaszi in News on March 22, 2010 4:30 PM

Comments [rss]

Severn

It WOULD be interesting to correlate the findings with the device used for taking the picture. Since they were using geo-tagged pics, this requires a GPS-enabled camera - I would guess the majority of these are IPhones? Taking a picture of the mothership...

Mr Mel

I believe the Grand Central Station or Post Office is located on Lexington Avenue and 44th Street. The main P.O., at 34th Street and 9th Avenue, is called the James A. Farley Building.

BklynsFinest

Another serious problem with the study's conclusion, many flickr users don't make their best photos public to the world. I know I don't, I show them to friends and family and fantasize about one day selling my lovelies to Magnum Photo.

So there may well be a million beautiful pics of the Chrystler Building at sunset that aren't seen, hence not included in the survey.

pbjt

Interesting, but according to the press release - dated April 23, 2009 - this is hardly a recent study.

farleft

Wait a second. This study tells us about the photography preferences of flickr members, not about other generic photographers in NYC. This just means that flickr members are primarily of the type that prefer photographing mac stores to other landmarks and POSTING it...It doesn't mean that all other people who visit NYC also photograph the Mac store with as much enthusiasm as the flickr type.

rbgilbert

The study was limited to geotagged photos in Flickr, a minority within a minority. So, while it does satisfy the goals of the researchers, it tells us almost nothing about popular places or subjects to photograph.

EastRiver

The study was done by the Computer Science Department with the purpose of demonstrating techniques for working with large data sets, in this case photos. The study does not claim to be representative of all photographers. Of course, the media missed the whole point of the study.

farleft

Agreed...I'm not blaming the study. I'm blaming all the reporting for completely misunderstanding the purpose of the study.

Stevennnn

Also how many flickr users use Mac? Graphic designers and photographers are known to use Mac than Windows.

theboneranger

im all for places that keep all the douchey types concentrated in one area that i dont care about.

JenChungsBaby

In Paris you photograph the glass pyramid on top of the Louvre entrance. Here you photograph the glass cube on top of the Apple store.

ides_of_march

My best photo is the top of Chrysler Building all lit up on a misty night. Apple store, yawn.

whitecastlerock

When did this become a landmark?

Ph

Grand Central Station is the 7 line connecting subway underneath part of the terminal as well as the post office. FYI.

Also, come to New York and photograph the Mac store. Excuse me while I vomit.

Plebes.

doza

From the architectural stand point- Apple Store is interesting, as a successful example of building "void" or "nothingness". Besides, Apple Cube is a landmark, just because it received a 2007 American Architecture Award. And, even if you personally do not like the cube, and much prefer dead plaza in front of General Motors Building, at least you have to admit that transparency of the cube treats modern (international style, to be exact) tower behind, as well as Central Park view, Plaza Hotel and hideous Art Deco skyscraper in a very respectful way.

You may proceed to vomit now...

mns

well, grand central station was traditionally the name of the post office. the name of the train stop under the post office got its name FROM the post office. just fyi.

this is pretty pedantic, i know...

Wza

Not surprised.

Many, many fanboys in this city.

mns

grand central TERMINAL.

not grand central station. that's the main post office across from msg.

yeesh. learn a bit about the city before you report on it.