The genre I’ve decided to further analyze is Eater’s ‘Heat Maps.” Eater is a website that offers food news and dining suggestions and guides from across the country through videos, reviews, articles from a variety of writers, etc. Among multiple features of their website, Eater offers a particularly interesting dining guide called ‘Heat Maps’. These maps are used to offer a list of new and popular restaurants, best of’s in a food category (i.e. burger, Thai food, etc.), and top ranked restaurants all in one particular city among other things. The unique aspect of this particular genre, however, rests in the visual aspect. Eater uses a digital map to help the reader visualize where the restaurant’s location is in the city.

Here are a few texts that I found to use as sources:

• The 38 Essential Austin Restaurants: Winter 2017

http://austin.eater.com/maps/best-austin-restaurants-38

•  The Hottest Restaurants in Austin Right Now: March 2017

http://austin.eater.com/maps/best-new-austin-restaurants-heatmap

•  17 Burgers to Eat Right Now in Austin

http://austin.eater.com/maps/best-new-burgers-austin-heatmap

•  10 Hot New Pizzerias to Try in Austin

http://austin.eater.com/maps/best-new-pizza-austin-restaurants

• Where to Find Fully Satisfying Cheap Burgers in Austin

http://austin.eater.com/maps/best-cheap-burgers-austin

Although these texts offer a variety of different material and content, there are a number of aspects from each source listed that share formal elements and functional purposes.

What should it contain to be considered a ‘Heat Map’?

ALWAYS:

• An entire map background with a left side column (left side: the list of curated restaurants)
• The placement of the restaurant on the left should correlate with the number labeled on the map (clear markers)
• An introduction before the list is presented
• A note stating that the list of restaurants is not ranked in terms of best to worst; it is dependent on what the map is representing
• Includes the address of the listed restaurants
• Ability to scroll the left side (list of restaurants) up and down
• Ability to move around the map visual
• Images of food from each listed restaurant

SOMETIMES:

• Offering suggestions of what to order
• A direct link to the restaurant’s official website
• The official phone number to the restaurant
• A list of “what’s popular”
• A list of “go-to’s” in a particular food category

 Functional Purposes:

The Heat Maps provided by Eater serve a number of functional purposes. They allow readers to select a particular category of restaurants choices, so they aren’t forced to be overwhelmed with the number of restaurants in Austin—they can select the map that shows the best burgers, pizzas, etc. in Austin, so they won’t have to sift through food they’re not interested in eating.

The maps also make the decision of where to eat easier as they show distance and commutes for readers. By providing the visual of the map and the exact location of the restaurant, readers are able to decide before even leaving their homes if the desired restaurants are within their commuting desires.