GeoPollster Canada, Foursquare and National Post have partnered to create a fascinating social media campaign in the run up to the Canadian General Elections on May 2. The campaign acts as a game of location domination, pairing Foursquare users with a political party and displaying their check-in data as party affiliation.

How does it work?

Foursquare users can opt to sign in to the GeoPollster Canada campaign, which links with their Foursquare account. Once account permission has been given, the user is prompted to choose a party to "vote" as, and every Foursquare check-in from then on is associated with that party.

GeoPollster Canada has created a map showing the dominance of the political parties in each province. This doesn't mean anything in terms of election forecasting (as evidenced by the Yukon, where voter sentiment is 88.98% Bloc Québécois) but it is interesting to see how political rivalries play out.

Location data can be distilled from the check-ins, so for any particular party, you can see what the most popular check-in types, and when a party has "seized control" of a particular place:

Browsing through the categories on the GeoPollster Canada site leads you to breakdowns of voters per venue category, in this case coffee shops:

The campaign produces an interesting set of demographic data and provides a sportsmanlike way to support your party.

This week, rather than sparking a passionate political argument with a stranger, why not steal a venue away from your rivals?