Following the recent outbreak of swine flu, Google has started tracking the latest epidemic using it’s maps API. On the map there are a number of markers. Pink markers represent suspect cases, purple markers represent confirmed cases, yellow markers represent negative cases and markers without a black dot inside represent a confirmed death. You can view the map by using this link to Google Maps H1N1 Swine Flu.
The page was created on the 21st April 2009 and already had 65,348 views when I first opened the page. Approximately 5 minutes later after refreshing the page, the page had received 66,632. That’s approximately 250 hits per minute.
This is just one of many uses that Google has found for it’s maps API. Personally, despite the morbid feelings associated with this, it is quite interesting to view. It also shows just how quickly the virus has spread and gives a much more accurate overview of the epidemic. Although this certainly isn’t something that an online marketing company should look to capitalise on, it shows how much traffic can be generated if you were to create a link bait on popular world news.
One Comment
Interesting post! I just checked maps now and it’s had a 102,640 views