Friday’s Food for Thought: Super Bowl

With Super Bowl 50 this weekend, football fans from all corners of the country will be rooting for either the Denver Broncos or the Carolina Panthers. In an interactive map from Sports on Earth, map data collected from Facebook reveals the majority of U.S. states are cheering for the Broncos. However, Twitter tells a different story through its #SB50 hashtag, which has the Panthers coming out on top as the favorite, reports Colorado Public Radio.

While millions will watch the game via television, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is expecting more than 15 million fans and visitors in or around Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., where the game will be held. Wired reports 60 federal, state, and local agencies are working together to coordinate surveillance and security for the big game. DHS will lead the effort and agencies will use surveillance tools such as facial recognition, automated license plate reading, social media monitoring, and more to observe the millions of people in the area and keep sports fans safe. Read in this 2014 trajectory feature how location data was instrumental in ensuring safety at Super Bowl 48.

For those living in the San Jose/San Francisco area or braving the crowds for the game, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has compiled a collection of maps showing road closures and potential gridlock to enable better planning.

As with any event of such scale, a massive cleanup is expected after the fact. A Government Technology article reports the city of San Jose has already embarked on its cleanup effort. The city collaborated with San Jose State University’s CommUniverCity and used TerraFlex field data capture software to identify hot spots for dumping. The areas were cleaned up in advance of the event and the process will continue throughout and after the big weekend.

Photo Credit: Sports on Earth