Near 2,143 McDonald’s via Google Street View: Looking Elsewhere

This experimental catalog documents the urban landscapes surrounding 5% (more or less) of the world’s McDonald’s outlets. All photos were taken using Google Street View - a fused combination of computer, camera, and car. Each of the 2,143 images depicts a location near a different McDonald’s, spanning 67 countries, including all 50 states of the USA.

McDonald’s outlets make for an unstable set of navigation points. They open and close (and occasionally open again), battered by the whims of market forces and international relations. Beyond this, McDonald’s itself - what it offers and what it represents - is not fixed. The McDonald’s on Airport Road in West Jordan, Utah, for instance, is not - practically and symbolically speaking - the same as the McDonald’s on Airport Road in Amman.

The meaning of McDonald’s changes depending on audience and context: A fast and cheap meal. A treat. A taste of home. A drive-through. A symbol of globalization, capitalism, and American imperialism. A toilet. Work. A way to end a night out. A drop-off point. A place to sit out of the weather. An erasure. An easy option. Something familiar. Or something else.