Editing Talk:2126: Google Trends Maps

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I'm not quite sure I understand the comic. And no, the irony of saying that on a wiki dedicated to explaining them is not lost on me. Do the maps show which word/phrase is more common in google in each state by comparing only the options to each other or where they actually the top searched words/phrases at some point in time?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.34|162.158.92.34]] 10:28, 20 March 2019 (UTC)
:Pretty sure they're all top searched words/phrases in some states at some point in the past. It's just that Randall has merged maps from different time periods. For example in the first map, "heat stroke" and "frostbite" are two real results, but the former is likely a result that appeared in summer, while the latter is likely one that appeared in winter. By merging the two maps you get a map that doesn't make sense, as it looks like they were the top searches in the same time period while in reality they weren't. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 11:04, 20 March 2019 (UTC)
::I think that Randall is just clarifying that each map may be showing trends for a different time range (otherwise people might try to compare the maps to each other, which isn't the point of the comic). I don't think he's saying that the individual results in each map are from different time ranges. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 11:30, 20 March 2019 (UTC)
:::Yeah, if the results were from different time periods, you could pretty much manipulate them however you want. It would make it much less interesting. Not that statistician don't already manipulate data in any way possible...[[User:Linker|Linker]] ([[User talk:Linker|talk]]) 16:51, 20 March 2019 (UTC)
From what it looks like, these are year-long averages. [[User:Netherin5|Netherin5]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 12:17, 20 March 2019 (UTC)
:Here's one I just made using an example Randall is given: [https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=frostbite,heat%20stroke Frostbite VS Heatstroke] It does appear to be either using averaging or summing over time to produce a map that is decently similar to Randall's [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.23|108.162.221.23]] 16:03, 21 March 2019 (UTC) Sam 
::Randolph's matches the 5 year average exactly[[User:Whereisspike|Whereisspike]] ([[User talk:Whereisspike|talk]]) 21:27, 21 March 2019 (UTC)

Here is an example for the Google Trends on the first example. [https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&geo=US&q=frostbite,heat%20stroke] It looks like he picked last 5 years for that one. There should be a table with links to all of them. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.59.142|162.158.59.142]] 17:48, 20 March 2019 (UTC)

For those that find the actual image to be mysteriously missing, that's because the image source URL is https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/a/ad/google_trends_maps.png , and some ad blockers will silently block it because it looks like a path to advertising images. So maybe turn off your adblocker on this site? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.170.64|172.69.170.64]] 22:37, 20 March 2019 (UTC)

Is it just me, or does the sexting graph look like the midwest is "giving it" to the southeast, with Arkansas and Tennessee playing the naughty bits? I wonder if Randall did this intentionally or if I'm just a perv. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.108|162.158.186.108]] 01:37, 21 March 2019 (UTC)
: I'm pretty sure the best answer to the above is the last line of https://xkcd.com/960/ ;)  [[Special:Contributions/172.69.50.52|172.69.50.52]] 04:40, 21 March 2019 (UTC)

I feel like "little dog" is most often entered by people searching for unusually small pets, not people wanting to learn about coyotes (which as far as I know are generally just called coyotes). This would still provide an amusing contrast with "big cats" (either the pet or wild versions). --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.102|162.158.106.102]] 06:46, 21 March 2019 (UTC)
:Yes, I agree. People are very unlikely to look up "big cat" for a pet, but many people want or have small dogs as pets.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.70|172.69.69.70]] 03:55, 7 March 2020 (UTC)

I've just transcribed the maps by listing which states are in which colour (dammit, I mean "color", I'm trying to use US spellings here). I've left the "incomplete" tag on there, though, because there are things that others might want to review:
* I only did lists for the color(s) with the fewest states, leaving the longest list as "all other states". This makes it less extensive, but potentially less useful (for, say, searching for a state's name).
* I wasn't sure whether or not to list the District of Columbia. I'm not sure whether the maps include it or not, and if it is included, it's not easy to tell whether it's blue or gray. The only case where it definitely looks like it's present (because it's a different color to both Maryland and Virginia) is in the "Donald Trump/What do I do" map, where it seems to be red. However, I'm still not certain; it could just be an artifact of Randall's graphics process. (Compare Massachusetts on the same map, where the bit sticking out... Cape Cod? yeah, that... is clearly gray, unlike the rest of the state.) That said, it may be part of the joke that "What do I do" is a popular search in Washington, DC!
* I'm not American and may have made mistakes in identifying states.
-- [[User:Peregrine|Peregrine]] ([[User talk:Peregrine|talk]]) 09:57, 21 March 2019 (UTC)

My first thought on Mike Pence and Bigfoot was ... wasn't Mike Pence the one who did "Bigfoot Porn"?  But no, that turned out to be the Virginia politician Leslie Cockburn.  Still, I wonder whether that brought bigfoot to his mind.

[[User:Jensfiederer|Jensfiederer]] ([[User talk:Jensfiederer|talk]]) 16:55, 21 March 2019 (UTC)

Who’s the Biologist who wrote the Little Dog, Big Cat explanation, because it seems way too scientific and has nothing to do with the TV show OR Coyotes. [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 13:59, 25 March 2019 (UTC)

The Marco Rubio joke seems kinda lost on me. Did he have something to do with Alaskan politics or something?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.224|108.162.216.224]] 15:10, 20 November 2019 (UTC)

Surprised about NC on the first map. Of course, both frostbites and heat strokes are possible there (even from my own experience), but the window of opportunity for the latter is a lot longer.