Cool Tool: Flickr WorldMap

Flickr is my go-to photo sharing site, but can also be overwhelming for sheer image volume. The extent of photo curation varies widely between users too, with some people uploading fully geotagged and sorted work, and others lumping all images together without a word of what, where, or when. In this sense, image hunting on flickr is not unlike digging for sweaters at the bargain barn. 
 One tool that has made my flickr questing much more productive is the Flickr WorldMap  


 Every flickr image that is tagged with GPS coordinates shows up on the map. You can search by keyword and location, filtering out the miscellaneous bits you're not in the mood to see.

 Tonight I am performing a search for "dragonet". Dragonets are small, beautiful fish that live in tropical seas. I am specifically interested in images of wild dragonets, but since these critters are popular in aquariums, I will likely get a ton of hobbyist photos too.

 Each purple dot on the map above corresponds to GPS coordinates where dragonet photo(s) were taken. Since these are not freshwater fish, the purple dots on mainland North America and Europe are probably photos from aquariums. The purple dots from Indonesia are more attractive to me, because Indonesia is full of coral reefs, and is a popular vacation destination for scuba divers.



Et voila! A photo of wild dragonets from user PacificKlaus, found easily with global search. Hope this helps, and happy hunting.