This App Turns the World Into a Wikipedia Treasure Hunt
You may think you know your hometown pretty well, but I’m willing to bet there’s a lot you don’t know – something remarkable that happened in a place you pass or drive by every day without thinking, like a building that was there. forever or a park in which you relax from time to time. Well, there’s an easy way to find out everything about your neighborhood, or any neighborhood in the world, which is almost like playing Pokémon Go , but for real life.
I’m talking about the wikishootme.toolforge.org web app. Despite the strange name (to put it mildly), wikishootme is a great site. It’s a world map based on OpenStreetMap and Leaflet , with one twist: it highlights any nearby area that has its own Wikipedia page, Wikimedia Commons images, or Wikidata. In practice, you can use it to find out about everything remarkable in any particular area of the world.
If you click on the three-layer icon in the top right corner, you can manage the different categories displayed on the screen:
- Wikidata (with image, max 3K) : Shows areas that have a Wikidata page with an image attached.
- Wikidata (no image, max 3K) : Shows areas that have a Wikidata page without an image attached.
- Commons images (max 500) : Shows the areas that Wikimedia Commons images are associated with.
- Wikipedia (maximum 500) : Shows areas with a Wikipedia article.
- Mix’n’match (max 5000) : Shows data points using the Mix’n’match tool to link data to Wikipedia articles.
- Large directories Mix’n’match (max 5000) : Display data points using the Mix’n’match tool for large directories.
- Flickr : Shows location images on Flickr.
You can keep all of these elements active on the screen, but the more you do, the more cluttered they become. In my experience, the best combination to use in most cases is Commons and Wikipedia images. This way you’ll find areas with enough prominence to have your own Wikipedia articles, as well as any areas that have pictures on Wikimedia Commons.
But what’s so cool about the Commons option is that you can find images that are clearly not the latest. You can find some historical images that show you the area as it was in the past. For example, while browsing results from East Harlem in New York, I came across this 1876 print of the Harlem Flats Viaduct . seeing what it looked like almost 150 years ago is amazing.
The first place where it is natural to look is, of course, your own city or city. I spent some time this morning exploring my neighborhood, the rest of my city, and then immediately every other place I’ve ever lived.
Use wikishootme like a real Pokémon GO map
But if you want to take it one step further, you can turn wikishootme into a sort of Pokémon GO in real life. TikTok creator deepsofwikipedia came up with this idea in her wikishootme video . If you activate the Wikidata (no image) category, you will see any area around you that has Wikidata, but don’t back it up with photos. You can go out, take a photo of this place and upload it yourself by making the dot green.
First create an account on Wikimedia Commons and then upload the image you made. Now click on the corresponding red dot on the map, click on the hyperlink to the name of the location, scroll down to its Wikidata page, select “Add Statement”, then select “image”. Enter the image filename as it appears on Wikimedia Commons, then click Publish. Gather your friends, look at the map and start taking pictures.