Smelly maps: the digital life of urban smellscapes

Conference paper


Quercia, D., Schifanella, R., Aiello, L. and McLean, K. 2015. Smelly maps: the digital life of urban smellscapes.
AuthorsQuercia, D., Schifanella, R., Aiello, L. and McLean, K.
TypeConference paper
Description

Smell has a huge influence over how we perceive places. Despite its importance, smell has been crucially overlooked by urban planners and scientists alike, not least because it is difficult to record and analyze at scale. One of the authors of this paper has ventured out in the urban world and conducted ``smellwalks'' in a variety of cities: participants were exposed to a range of different smellscapes and asked to record their experiences. As a result, smell-related words have been collected and classified, creating the first dictionary for urban smell. Here we explore the possibility of using social media data to reliably map the smells of entire cities. To this end, for both Barcelona and London, we collect geo-referenced picture tags from Flickr and Instagram, and geo-referenced tweets from Twitter. We match those tags and tweets with the words in the smell dictionary. We find that smell-related words are best classified in ten categories. We also find that specific categories (e.g., industry, transport, cleaning) correlate with governmental air quality indicators, adding validity to our study.

Year2015
ConferenceICWSM 15: Ninth International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media
Official URLhttp://www.aaai.org/ocs/index.php/ICWSM/ICWSM15/paper/view/10572
Publisher's version
Publication process dates
Deposited05 Jun 2015
AcceptedJan 2015
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
PrintMay 2015
Permalink -

https://repository.canterbury.ac.uk/item/8757y/smelly-maps-the-digital-life-of-urban-smellscapes

Download files

  • 282
    total views
  • 100
    total downloads
  • 0
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

Recent advances in smellscape research for the built environment.
Xiao, Jieling, Aletta, Francesco, Radicchi, Antonella, McLean, Kate, Shiner, Larry E and Verbeek, Caro 2021. Recent advances in smellscape research for the built environment. Frontiers in Psychology. 12, p. 700514. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.700514
Temporalities of the smellscape: Creative mapping as visual representation
McLean, K. 2021. Temporalities of the smellscape: Creative mapping as visual representation. in: Modern Approaches to the Visualization of Landscapes Germany Springer. pp. 217-246
Hospital corridor smellscape
McLean, K. 2020. Hospital corridor smellscape. Forthcoming publication https://hospitalsenses.co.uk/2019/11/15/wellcome-trust-network/.
Sensory maps
McLean, K. 2020. Sensory maps. in: Kobayashi, A (ed.) International encyclopedia of human geography Elsevier. pp. 153-168
Smell mapping Astor Place
McLean, K. and New York City Department of Transportation Public Art Programme 2017. Smell mapping Astor Place.
Ukrainian version of "A Winter Smellwalk in Kyiv"
McLean, K. 2017. Ukrainian version of "A Winter Smellwalk in Kyiv".
Being relational: entering the world of sensory & embodied communication design
McLean, K., van Rhyn, C. and Yan Zheng, C. 2016. Being relational: entering the world of sensory & embodied communication design. Design Research Society 2017. Brighton 27 - 30 Jun 2016
Polyrhythmia of the smellwalk: mapping multi-scalar temporalities
McLean, K. 2017. Polyrhythmia of the smellwalk: mapping multi-scalar temporalities.
Practices of smellscape mapping
McLean, K. 2017. Practices of smellscape mapping.
Smellwalk: Edinburgh
McLean, K. 2017. Smellwalk: Edinburgh. Edinburgh, UK 07 Feb 2017
Smellwalk: Kyiv
McLean, K. 2016. Smellwalk: Kyiv. Kyiv, Ukraine 25 Dec 2016
A winter smellwalk in Kyiv
McLean, K. 2017. A winter smellwalk in Kyiv.
Sensations of Roman lives: smell profiles of Roman Silchester based on physical proximity
McLean, K. 2017. Sensations of Roman lives: smell profiles of Roman Silchester based on physical proximity.
How to explore a smellscape
McLean, K. 2015. How to explore a smellscape.
Smellmap: Edinburgh
McLean, K. 2016. Smellmap: Edinburgh. National Library of Scotland
Smellwalk: Whitstable Biennale
McLean, K., Whistable Biennale and Frank Gallery 2016. Smellwalk: Whitstable Biennale. Whitstable, Kent 04 - 12 Jun 2016
Smellwalk influences and causality
McLean, K. 2016. Smellwalk influences and causality.
Communicating and mediating smellscapes: the design and exposition of olfactory mappings
McLean, K. 2017. Communicating and mediating smellscapes: the design and exposition of olfactory mappings. in: Henshaw, V., Medway, D., McLean, K., Perkins, C. and Warnaby, G. (ed.) Designing with Smell: Practices, Techniques and Challenges Routledge.
Mapping the quixotic volatility of smellscapes: a trialogue - interview with Kate McLean
McLean, K., Lammes, S. and Perkins, C. 2018. Mapping the quixotic volatility of smellscapes: a trialogue - interview with Kate McLean. in: Gekker, A., Hind, S., Lammes, S., Perkins, C., Wilmott, C. and Evans, D. (ed.) Time for Mapping: Cartographic Temporalities Manchester University Press.
Smellmap: Pamplona moving map
McLean, K. 2015. Smellmap: Pamplona moving map.
Designing with smell: practices, techniques and challenges
Henshaw, V. and McLean, K. Henshaw, V., Medway, D., McLean, K., Perkins, C. and Warnaby, G. (ed.) 2017. Designing with smell: practices, techniques and challenges. Routledge.
Modelling scentscape experience
McLean, K. 2016. Modelling scentscape experience.
Smellwalk: Holborn April 2016
McLean, K. 2016. Smellwalk: Holborn April 2016. London College of Fashion, University of the Arts, London 05 - 09 Apr 2016
Scentscape 06 . 2015 – Singapore
McLean, K. 2015. Scentscape 06 . 2015 – Singapore.
Olfactory classifications: an incomplete portolan of combined smelly knowledges
McLean, K. 2016. Olfactory classifications: an incomplete portolan of combined smelly knowledges.
The sweet smell of Amsterdam … and it's not just cannabis, say odour mappers
McLean, K. 2015. The sweet smell of Amsterdam … and it's not just cannabis, say odour mappers. The Guardian.
Ex-formation as a method for mapping smellscapes
McLean, K. 2016. Ex-formation as a method for mapping smellscapes. Communication Design: Interdisciplinary and Graphic Design Research. 3 (1), pp. 173-186. https://doi.org/10.1080/20557132.2015.1163081
Mapping urban ephemerals: contemporary practices of visualising the invisible and the transitory
McLean, K. 2017. Mapping urban ephemerals: contemporary practices of visualising the invisible and the transitory. in: Vujakovic, P. and Kent, A. (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Mapping and Cartography Routledge.
Lives of urban smells
McLean, K. 2015. Lives of urban smells.
Smellmap : Amsterdam - olfactory art & smell visualisation
McLean, K. 2016. Smellmap : Amsterdam - olfactory art & smell visualisation. Leonardo.
Smellmap: Pamplona
McLean, K. 2014. Smellmap: Pamplona.
Smellmap: Amsterdam
McLean, K. 2014. Smellmap: Amsterdam.
Smellmap: Amsterdam, 2014
McLean, K. and International Flavors & Frangrances, Hilversum, The Netherlands 2014. Smellmap: Amsterdam, 2014. IEEE VIS 2014 Arts Program. Paris 09 - 14 Nov 2014
Smellmap: Amsterdam - olfactory art & data visualisation
McLean, K. 2014. Smellmap: Amsterdam - olfactory art & data visualisation.
Smell map narratives of place - Paris
McLean, K. 2013. Smell map narratives of place - Paris. New American Notes Online. 6.
Cultures of cartography: towards a new research agenda
Kent, A., Vujakovic, P. and McLean, K. 2014. Cultures of cartography: towards a new research agenda. ’Capture, Create, and Communicate’, British Cartographic Society, Annual Symposium. Winchester 24 - 26 Jun 2014
Invisible, erratic, ephemeral: lives of urban smells
McLean, K. 2015. Invisible, erratic, ephemeral: lives of urban smells.
Smell Map Edinburgh
McLean, K. 2011. Smell Map Edinburgh.