For instance, it looked at pictures of people smiling and laughing to come up with this list of the 20 happiest
The list is surprising.
Jetpac has invented some big data technology to figure out things about Instagram pictures, like if the picture shows men, women or children; what the people are doing and how happy they seem to be while doing it. All of those things are really pretty hard for a computer to normally do.
The startup will soon release a new iPhone app called City Guides that uses this data to show you the best spots in any city. (We've been testing a preview of the app.)
Based on thousands of Instagram photos for each city, Jetpac says these are the 20 happiest places in the nation:
No. 1: Saint Louis, MO
No. 2: Kansas City, MO
No. 3: Columbus, OH
No. 4: Indianapolis, IN
No. 5: Pittsburgh, PA
No. 6: San Antonio, TX
No. 7: Minneapolis, MN
No. 8: Jacksonville, FL
No. 9: Detroit, MI
No. 10: Raleigh, NC
No. 11: Nashville, TN
No. 12: Chicago, IL
No. 13: Charlotte, NC
No. 14: Baltimore, MD
No. 15: Tampa, FL
No. 16: Denver, CO
No. 17: Dallas, TX
No. 18: Phoenix, AZ
No. 19: Boston, MA
No. 20: Houston, TX