Brief Overview
Snap Map is a feature of Snap Inc.’s Snapchat application that gives users a searchable world map, and aggregates geotagged Snaps taken in the last 24 hours. Locations that are particularly popular are highlighted on the map with a heatmap gradient that ranges from sky blue to yellow to red.
Snap Map was introduced in June 2017 and received criticism on how it exacerbated existing privacy and security issues. However, an additional – perhaps, unforeseen – use is keeping tabs on loved ones in disaster-prone areas, monitoring one’s surroundings in these areas, and in investigative journalism. With Snapchat’s user base of 166 million (that is now beginning to look small in comparison to Instagram’s 250 million user base) posting at least 700 million photos per day – and especially with the introduction of Snap Map – Snapchat is increasingly becoming a source of information for journalists.
Snap Map is particularly useful because stories are geotagged and cannot be uploaded retroactively (unless the user goes to great lengths to upload old content, there is a relative amount of surety). The timestamped and geotagged content visible on Snap Map can be used to generating a timeline of events. The heatmap is helpful – if not crucial – in discovering events that may have not yet been covered by other news sites, for fact-checking, or for gaining additional insights into an emerging story. [As I will demonstrated in my demo.]
Steps to use Snap Map
- Make sure you have the Snapchat application installed on your Android or iOS device.
- Log in to Snapchat or create a new user account.
- From the main screen, pinch out with your fingers; this will bring up the Snap Map feature.
- The user is presented with a brief overview of Snap Map.
- The map is now displayed, zoomed-in to the user’s current location with a heatmap of the area.
- One can zoom out and pan to different areas, and certain hotspots are annotated with textual information.
- Zoom in, and long-press on a particular location.
- The user is presented with Snaps that were taken around that location and uploaded within the last twenty four hours.
- Additionally, you can search for popular locations around the world from the search bar.
- To upload your own content to Snap Map, take a picture or video and make sure you geotag it with your current location. Simple as that! (Eerily simple, rather.)
