New York

The Return of Massimo Vignelli
Massimo Vignelli’s 1972 map of the New York subway system, which introduced a Beck-style diagrammatic transit map to the city (and which New Yorkers were not prepared for; the map was controversial and encountered opposition before it was replaced in… »
Posted on Friday, April 25, 2008 at 8:33 PM
Categories: Mass Transit, New York
New York City Public Toilet Map
The New York City Public Toilet Map lists 250 public restrooms in Manhattan; the wallet-sized map costs $2. As I noted before when discussing Australia’s National Public Toilet Map, this is exactly the sort of thing us weak-bladdered travellers need… »
Posted on Monday, March 24, 2008 at 9:23 PM
Categories: New York
Riding While White on the NYC Subway
Ouch: Riding While White on the NYC Subway, an MTA subway map with minority-neighbourhood stops removed. “This map, though intended for white folks, can be used by people of color who live in the unmarked areas because the last stops… »
Posted on Saturday, January 26, 2008 at 7:44 AM
Categories: New York
New York Public Library Map Blog
The New York Public Library’s skunkworks is currently experimenting with a number of blogs, one of which — quite naturally, given the existence of the NYPL’s map division — deals with maps: Maps @ NYPL is still at an early… »
Posted on Sunday, October 28, 2007 at 12:49 PM
Categories: Blogs, Libraries, New York
NYC Adopts Compass Decals
This time it’s for real. A year and a half after John Emerson proposed compass points at subway entrances, and guerrilla-style compass roses began appearing on city sidewalks, the New York City Department of Transportation announces temporary compass decals… »
Posted on Sunday, October 21, 2007 at 8:10 PM
Categories: Miscellany, New York
Mapping the History of the New York Subway
An animated map depicting the history of the New York subway: “[a]n animated GIF starts with a blank subway map and draws each line in the sequence in which it was built.” For more maps showing the history of New… »
Posted on Monday, September 24, 2007 at 8:42 PM
Categories: Antique Maps, Historical Maps, Mass Transit, New York
Get Lost
Get Lost: Artists Map Downtown New York “is a collective portrait of downtown New York. Twenty-one international artists were invited to create a personal view of the city and draw a map of downtown New York, uncovering a territory… »
Posted on Sunday, September 16, 2007 at 9:01 PM
Categories: Art, New York
NYC Subway Maps on an iPhone
Yes, the iPhone has Google Maps on it, but Khoi Vinh feels the need to carry along a mobile version of the official New York Metropolitan Transit Authority subway map on his iPhone. His solution is what he calls… »
Posted on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 at 8:03 PM
Categories: Mass Transit, Mobile Devices, New York
Google Maps Street View
The big news so far from Where 2.0 is the announcement of Google’s street-level imagery for five U.S. cities — Denver, Las Vegas, Miami, New York and (of course) San Francisco — which, in a fit of originality, they’re… »
Posted on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at 4:28 PM
Categories: Cities, New York, Online Maps, Roads, San Francisco, Video
Your Wallet Is Your Map
The Tubemap Wallet is one of those ideas that sounds really neat — even practical — in theory: a special wallet that folds out to reveal a map of either the London Underground or the New York subway. The… »
Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007 at 9:53 PM
Categories: London, Mass Transit, New York
Massimo Vignelli Defends His Map
In this four-minute outtake that didn’t make it into the final version of the documentary film Helvetica, designer Massimo Vignelli talks about his 1972 map of the New York subway system — which, you may recall, encountered stout opposition…. »
Posted on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 5:46 PM
Categories: Mass Transit, New York, Video
Eddie Jabbour’s New York Subway Map
After posting the entry about the new Madrid Metro map, it occurred to me that familiarity may be as important as good design: a new map design will almost certainly encounter resistance from users of the current design if the… »
Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 5:03 PM
Categories: Mass Transit, New York
Manhattan, a Poem and Map
“Manhattan,” by Howard Horowitz, first appeared in the New York Times on August 30, 1997: it was a poem in the shape of Manhattan Island, about Manhattan, with references to various neighbourhoods and landmarks in the appropriate locations. It’s… »
Posted on Thursday, January 4, 2007 at 2:08 PM
Categories: Art, New York
Panoramic Map of New York
Dave Kellam has scanned a panoramic map of New York, dating from 1939 or thereabouts, that he picked up a few months ago at a used bookstore. (Lucky find, that.) Via Plep…. »
Posted on Sunday, December 31, 2006 at 4:18 PM
Categories: Antique Maps, New York
New York Fire Insurance Maps
Fire insurance maps, with their incredible detail, are always a great find; we’ve got a couple in local collections here, and I just think they’re magnificent. Unfortunately, they originally had onerous copyright restrictions that prohibited making copies, so these treasures… »
Posted on Friday, December 15, 2006 at 12:14 PM
Categories: Antique Maps, New York
New York Subway Maps and Colour
Making subway maps is more than just choosing between Beck-style diagrams and geographically accurate maps, or something in between; as with any good map design, colour choice matters too. Yale Daily News tells the story of alumnus R. Raleigh D’Adamo,… »
Posted on Thursday, October 26, 2006 at 9:18 AM
Categories: Mass Transit, New York
Credit-Card-Sized Stainless-Steel Subway Maps
Sure, laminated paper versions are cheaper, but a credit-card-sized, stainless steel map of the New York subway or London Underground is, well … it’s something, isn’t it? It’s fifteen bucks, anyway. Via Gizmodo, where they seem to think it’s… »
Posted on Friday, October 20, 2006 at 5:27 PM
Categories: London, Mass Transit, Miscellany, New York
New York City Subway Smell Map
Gawker’s New York City Subway Smell Map, a Google Maps mashup with attitude: “Created from reports sent in by Gawker readers, the map displays particular smells — horrific and sublime — encountered throughout New York’s subway stations.” And you thought… »
Posted on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 at 6:34 PM
Categories: Hacks & Mashups, Mass Transit, New York
New York Subway Maps
Despite the success of Beck’s London Underground diagram, New Yorkers have historically resisted diagrammatic subway maps, preferring instead maps that are a bit more geographically accurate and take into account surface features like parks, bodies of water and neighbourhoods…. »
Posted on Tuesday, September 5, 2006 at 12:25 PM
Categories: Mass Transit, New York
Viele’s Map of Manhattan
For a so-called “remaindered link,” this is an impressive post: Jason Kottke began by linking to a story in today’s New York Times about Egbert Viele’s 1874 map of Manhattan — still used today by civil engineers because it… »
Posted on Monday, June 12, 2006 at 10:52 PM
Categories: Antique Maps, New York
Manhattan Elsewhere
With Manhattan Elsewhere, Jason Kottke updates Bill Rankin’s Errant Isle of Manhattan using Google Maps and Google Earth (Rankin used MapQuest). The idea is to play off the differences in size and density; in both projects, it’s very surprising to… »
Posted on Tuesday, June 6, 2006 at 8:45 AM
Categories: New York
September 11 Digital Archive
To mark the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the September 11 Digital Archive has used the Google Maps API to create an interactive map of New York with photos (blue markers) and stories (red markers) from that day. Via… »
Posted on Sunday, September 11, 2005 at 3:47 PM
Categories: Current Events, Hacks & Mashups, New York
Google Maps Hacks: WiFi Access Points
Computer geeks are the ones hacking Google Maps. Computer geeks like WiFi. No surprise, then, that several of the map hacks using the Google Maps API involve wireless hotspot locations. Maps of free WiFi access points are available for New… »
Posted on Monday, July 11, 2005 at 4:25 PM
Categories: Chicago, Hacks & Mashups, New York, Portland
New York City Traceroute
A GPS traceroute of a year’s worth of walking and biking in New York — mostly Manhattan and Brooklyn — by a single person. Beyond neat. Via Gadling…. »
Posted on Monday, June 20, 2005 at 12:00 PM
Categories: New York, Tracerouting
HopStop
HopStop provides directions, by public transit or by foot, for New York City addresses: enter starting point and destination and it provides the route and a small map. Via Kottke…. »
Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 at 11:03 AM
Categories: New York
Homemade New York Subway Map
A homemade New York subway map that includes other railroads and is based on the London diagram. Says the designer: My design goals were to present a simple, clear diagram of all the passenger railroads in the city and just… »
Posted on Thursday, December 9, 2004 at 9:30 PM
Categories: Mass Transit, New York, Railroads
History of the New York Subway Map
Why should the London Underground map get all the attention (see previous entry)? The New York Times has a brief story (usual registration caveats) on the origins of the current New York subway map, which dates to 1979. Thanks James…. »
Posted on Friday, October 29, 2004 at 8:53 AM
Categories: Mass Transit, New York

Note: Entries from 2003 were not categorized and will not appear in the category archives. Please consult the monthly archives.