Who Cares?

The all powerful statistics sometimes uncover quite unexpected results.

I would never expect that the scorching hot Phoenix, AZ takes #13 in the visitor frequency list, whereas first three places are taken by Atlanta, GA, Los Angeles, CA, and Chicago, IL, with London, UK and Toronto, Canada being present in the top ten.

It is natural to see US being #1, somewhat surprising to see that #2 is Canada, even more surprising to see that #3 is United Kingdom, and completely unexpected to see Sweden in the top ten.

It is amazing that there are people visiting DZ site quite frequently as north as Oslo, Norway.

It is sad that New Zealand, #19, yielded more hits than Russia, #20, just as Mexico, #27, is ahead of all of China, #28.

The fact that the whole African continent resulted in 0.48% hits, goes without comment.

Even more interesting the results become if the geek bias (recent hits from Hack A Day) is removed - first place firmly takes... Toronto, Canada (surprise, huh?). Chicago, IL comes second, followed by Atlanta, GA. Phoenix, AZ moves to 19th place.

So I'm thinking - is Atlanta really that bad in the summer? DZ is pretty much a niche project, and the geek appeal of it is barely above absolute zero - only those specifically looking for information on temperature zoning are finding it. Nevertheless, this time the geeks came as soon as the bell rang...

On the other hand, the fact that Phoenix is well beyond the first ten doesn't tell me it's not hot and doesn't need air conditioning - I know it is, and I know it does. It may speak of a different phenomenon, though - population bias. Either a lot of it is Internet illiterate (which certain areas of the Valley definitely are), or a lot of it has enough money to buy it (which other areas of the Valley absolutely do), or both... Or they are snowbirds.

Update Jun 26 2007: Google Setting Up a Presence In Kenya. Wonder how that's going to change the picture - so far, only 2 hits came in over a year.