Now you can have your solar eclipse with a side of hash browns. That’s thanks to UGA geography professor, Jerry Shannon, who created a map of Waffle House locations that you can watch the total solar eclipse from.
Shannon was inspired by other researchers who were creating all kinds of eclipse maps, such as the dual Sasquatch sighting and eclipse watching map made by a NASA scientist. “My main research area is in the area of food access, and so that’s the data I know, that’s kind of where my mind goes,” said Shannon. “So I thought what would be an interesting store to map? And so I thought of Waffle House. We live in Georgia, so that’s kind of the store that you think of.”
After Shannon tweeted out his map, the post went viral – with even Waffle House tweeting back. Though he says this was just meant to be fun, he does want people to understand the importance of maps.
“What I try to do is say, this is just an example of the kinds of things that we can do,” said Shannon. “It shows you that maps can tell really good stories."
