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Interactive Map of the Top Netflix Rentals in Twelve Major Cities

The New York Times creates some of the most interesting and unique interactive maps out there.  This new map lets us peek into the Netflix queues of individuals in twelve metropolitan areas.  From these cities you can drill down into zip codes to see what individuals in that area are renting.

See Netflix Top 10 Rentals Map

Living in Boston I definitely found it interesting to scroll through the various movies in Netflix top 100 and see how often they are on people’s lists along with going through different zip codes and seeing what the popular titles are.  Just in case you are curious and don’t feel like digging through the map, here are the top ten titles rented through Netflix in 2009.

Top Ten Titles Rented through Netflix in 2009

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
2. Changeling
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. Seven Pounds
5. Gran Torino
6. Twilight
7. Doubt
8. Body of Lies
9. Valkyrie
10. Burn After Reading

Not surprising that most of the movies on the top 100 list along with the movies that show up in various zip codes’ top ten are new releases.

What To Do With This Data

So the big question is what do you do with the movie preferences of these individuals in US cities?  Netflix has the obvious answer as knowing this information can help them offer what individuals in these cities are more likely to rent next and plan inventory and delivery routes accordingly.  What the rest of us do with this information is not so obvious.  Yes, you can get movie ideas about what to watch before going on your next blind date.  Maybe before that next office party you are better prepared for random movie conversation, but even then, this is only useful for people in the dozen chosen cities.

I think interesting user data will always have value. The trick is to find interesting ways to display that information.  This map does an interesting enough job of it that I spent twenty minutes surfing through and getting ideas about what I want to watch next.  Bottom line, once again here is just another example of using interesting data in an interactive map mash-up. What interesting interactive map ideas have you thought of lately?

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