Yelp’s New Word Map Site Is Surprisingly Useful

Yelp is sometimes not the most useful of sites. Its users can have odd perceptions of concepts such as “expensive,” “service,” and “edible.” But they do provide data points, and Yelp has now turned those data points into a ridiculously entertaining online map app.

The site is pretty simple: Choose a city, currently limited to a handful of major markets like Austin and Philadelphia, and then choose a common term from a list, which tellingly includes terms such as “PBR.” The map will then show you places with the highest concentration of that word mentioned in reviews. Unfortunately, they chose a shade of red that makes the whole thing look like a plague map, but you can’t have everything.

The results are often unintentionally hilarious if you know the area in question. As an example, in the Boston area, if you choose romantic, an odd red haze appears right over the regional chain Italian restaurant that’s near two colleges. Because nothing says romance like taking your special somebody out to a booth meal with unlimited breadsticks.

That said, while the wisdom of crowds can be limited, it is nonetheless interesting to see how cities are rated by people handing in reviews. And it does offer a rough guide of what you can expect, not to mention a useful tool for tracking the spreading hipster plague.

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