Explore the Map of the Flickr Commons: What Can You Find Near You?

You don’t have to reach for GenAI for all your images, right? For vintage and historical imagery, take a look at the Flickr Commons that includes tens of thousands of public domain photos shared by over 100 cultural institutions.

For this activity we send you to a new Map view of this collection, where more than 60000 are mapped to the locations of the photos. Yes, those ones on the top and bottom edges are not glitches!


Explore the map

Zoom in to find a location near you (or a place you have been) to find a photo of interest to share in. a reply. Maybe you know the scene as it is now? Or you have your own photo of the location? Or just share why it caught your eye.

For me, the closest location with a photo (one) was in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan (map link)

Imgur
CO 1069-286-202 flickr photo by The National Archives UK shared with no copyright restriction (Flickr Commons)

The flickr caption cites this a photo of Moose Jaw taken in 1919 when the Prince of Wales made a stop here. I know that location is looking north on Main Street. Because I can, I added a comment (if you have or create a free flickr account, you can add comments).

For Open Education Week, share a public domain photo you found by traveling the world with the Flickr Commons Map.