Marilyn Monroe. Frida Kahlo. Hitler. Jesus. Freddie Mercury. Who is the most notable person (good or bad) from your hometown or favorite city? That’s the question answered visually via the Notable People interactive map, as reported by FlowingData.
Created by Topi Tjukanov of mapping developers Mapbox, this interactive site shows the birthplaces of the most notable people around the world, with only one person represented for each unique geographic location with the “highest notability rank.” The candidates are taken from a cross-verified database of 2.29 million people based on Wikipedia entries and Wikidata.
You can move the globe around and zoom in to find some interesting names floating out in the middle of the globe — like Ariana Grande, who has a notability rank of 264 and comes up as the most notable person from Boca Raton, FL. (She is also listed as “probably alive,” which is good but also odd.)
Some other notable names and places:
- New York is, unsurprisingly but also incorrectly (as perceived by actual New Yorkers), represented by Donald Trump. He has a notability rank of 2.
- Notability rank no. 1? Honolulu-born Barack Obama.
- Jesus, of notability rank no. 204.5, reps Bethlehem and gets a rather flippant “Nope” under the “is still alive” designation
- My birth town of Anchorage? An unfortunately notable win by Curt Schilling.
If you’re looking to waste a few minutes of your day, Tjukanov’s map is a fairly interesting way to see who represents where you’re from, for better or worse.
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