Look at a map and you can tell right away where New York ends and New Jersey begins. But that official border is not a [--1--] of how the community is really shaped. Because northeastern Jersey is effectively part of the New York City [--2--] and southwest Jersey is really part of Philadelphia’s.
Researchers from Northwestern University have now [--3--] the country’s de facto communities. And they did it in an ingenious way, using data from the Where’s George project.
Maybe you’ve gotten a dollar bill, featuring George Washington’s mug, that’s been [--4--] to indicate it’s in the Where’s George system. You can then go to a and enter the serial number of the bill and your location. As will, hopefully, the next person who gets that bill.
The researchers realized that the movement of the dollars tracked by Where’s George is a marker for the movement of people. And the mobility of people reveals true communities.
The research, in Public Library of Science ONE [Christian Thiemann et al., "The Structure of Borders in a Small World"], shows that, for example, the New England states really are a [--5--]. As is what you might call greater Texas after you’ve seen the video produced by the researchers. It’s at
【视听版科学小组荣誉出品】
true reflection metropolitan area mapped stamped block
瞧着地图你可以准确的分辨出纽约的尽头和新泽西的开端在哪儿。但是官方的边界并不能真正反映出这个地区的真正边界。因为新泽西的东北部实际上是纽约大都会的一部分，而新泽西的西南部确是费城的一部分。 来自西北大学的研究人员已经绘制出了这个国家的实际边界。他们用了一个很巧妙的办法—使用“Where’s George”[注1: Where's George? is a website that tracks the natural geographic circulation of American paper money.]项目中的数据来解决这个问题。 也许你得到过一美元钞票，而且加盖了印花标明它在Where’s George系统中，上面还印着乔治?华盛顿的苦瓜脸。然后进入网站，输入钞票上的序列号和你的方位。可能的话，下一个得到钞票的人说不定也会这样做。 研究人员意识到Where’s George发起的追踪美元活动可以标记人员流动。人员的流动能反映真正的群体界定。在一号公共科学图书馆的研究显示，新英格兰地界就是一个空心块。可能你认为的更大的德州呢，当你看完研究人员录制的视频后会发现跟新英格兰一样是个空心块。登陆可以查到。