World's most photographed landmarks

[NM]

From news.com.au:

SCIENTISTS have analysed nearly 35 million images to reveal the most-photographed cities and landmarks in the world - and Australian icons have failed to make the cut.

 

[Flashback]

Not really much of a surprise, I guess. There are much nicer looking places around the world.

 

[Homer]

Obviously the results are not about how these landmarks look, but rather how many visitors they attract - so it's pretty hard for Australian landmarks to compete with the volume of visitors these sites receive.

 

[samh004]

I'd of thought the opera house would be photographed more, and visitor numbers are pretty high, but I suppose there are bigger visitor numbers in places that are easier to get to, in the Northern Hemisphere.

What's more surprising is that Brisbane actually ranked somewhere, 201st isn't bad.

 

[odysseus]

Obviously the results are not about how these landmarks look, but rather how many visitors they attract - so it's pretty hard for Australian landmarks to compete with the volume of visitors these sites receive.

That's what I was thinking as well. When France gets twenty times as many tourists as us, and each person is probably taking similar number of photos, it's not likely we'll be in the game. There's so much more traffic to European and American destinations that they'll naturally have an 'absolute' advantage.

 

[mysavings789]

Well, every country has its own history and landmark to tell. My only question is why the research conducted by scientist (US based)? And they get the data at random from Flicker according to the www.news.com.au Do you think this is accurate?

 

[samh004]

Well, every country has its own history and landmark to tell. My only question is why the research conducted by scientist (US based)? And they get the data at random from Flicker according to the www.news.com.au Do you think this is accurate?

Well it's pretty accurate because they used a popular social photo sharing site that's used worldwide. The photos found don't just represent what Americans take photos of.

I do think they might have missed quite a few photos though, as not all photos are geo-tagged, especially older ones.

 

[Mal]

I think their data collection method is flawed:

1. GeoTagging could be more frequently done by people who are a certain type of traveller (or non-traveller).
2. The results are heavily skewed towards people's home towns.

 

[coco50]

Travel and Leisure Australia June 2009 lists five classic tourist sights (not necessarily the world's most photographed landmarks nor necessarily the five best) as:

• The pyramids of Giza
• The Sydney Opera House
• The Statue of Liberty
• Angkor Archaeological Park
• The Vatican

They wouldn't necessarily make my list but they are all certainly impressive. Beauty etc. is in the eye of the beholder. news.com.au hasn't always been right, but then nor has Travel and Leisure.

 

[dajop]

Sure these are the most photographed landmarks posted on flickr, but it is a big call to say these are the worlds most photographed landmarks fullstop.

Anyone who has witnessed the hoards of Chinese tourists all armed with cameras at any of a number of landmarks in and around Beijing (the Tiannamen Gate and Forbidden City in particular), or equivalent hoards of Japanese tourists around Kyoto (Golden Pavillion in particular) would know exactly what I'm talking about. I highly doubt that Flickr is as popular in Japan and China as it is in US and Europe. Therefore it does bias away from the" Eastern" Hemisphere.

 

[Flymethere]

Well, whilst in NZ just over 18 months ago, the tour guide at the Dunedin Cadbury chocolate factory proudly announced that the Dunedin Railway Station was one of the most photographed buildings in the world. She was quite serious and certainly believed it herself! Still, at least it has provided us a few laughs over the past 18 months.

 

[munitalP]

Well, whilst in NZ just over 18 months ago, the tour guide at the Dunedin Cadbury chocolate factory proudly announced that the Dunedin Railway Station was one of the most photographed buildings in the world. She was quite serious and certainly believed it herself! Still, at least it has provided us a few laughs over the past 18 months.

Try Google - Dunedin Railway Station sure has some hits...

I have a few laughs myself over serious statements made which any travelled person knows is incorrect - "Tasmania has the most fresh water in the Southern Hemisphere" is the one that gets me falling over, or "Perth is the most isolated city in the World" - try Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia if you need to define isolated... what I'm trying to say is that local myth is easily believed by locals - I remember seeing an advert in NZ about a drink L&P which was advertised as "World Famous in NZ", I think that summed it up well...

What this post was about however, I have to agree that the choice of "most photographed landmarks" is flawed - I think that the AFF forum should have a "Landmark Off" and here it is... HERE

Mr!

 

[odysseus]

I have a few laughs myself over serious statements made which any travelled person knows is incorrect - "Tasmania has the most fresh water in the Southern Hemisphere" is the one that gets me falling over, or "Perth is the most isolated city in the World" - try Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia if you need to define isolated... what I'm trying to say is that local myth is easily believed by locals - I remember seeing an advert in NZ about a drink L&P which was advertised as "World Famous in NZ", I think that summed it up well...

For that matter, it's not restricted to the southern hemisphere and/or smaller locations. The US has plenty of shops that say "World Famous Joe's steakhouse" or the "Smallest shop in the world" and similar, when none of those adjectives are correct.

 

[JohnK]

Well it's pretty accurate because they used a popular social photo sharing site that's used worldwide. The photos found don't just represent what Americans take photos of.

And a lot of tourists or overseas travellers do not bother using the so called popular social photo sharing site. These statistics can only be classified as opinion and not fact....