Functional map of United States

A ‘Whom Do You Hang With?’ Map of America – here’s a map that’s not drawn according to state boundaries but by transaction areas.  Based on the website Where’s George? which tracks the flow of dollar bills, Dirk Brockmann of Northwestern University devised this map.

Deep blue means “This is as far as most of the money goes.” In other places, the territories were less sharp, so Dirk made them less blue.  ….

This hunk of America, in his view, is now an “effective community,” a place where people-to-people business has a distinct flavor, distinct from neighboring regions. In other words, it’s its own neighborhood.

See more on the complex systems research being done by Dirk Brockmann here.

The article cites another research project, this time from MIT in collaboration with the National Building Museum, called The Connected States of America.  It uses telephone records to map communities across the country.

Does this kind of information change how you think about business development?  Let us know if it does.