Map of the Day: Manhattan Superimposed

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Today's map comes from Radical Cartography, source of the popular subway comparisons from a couple of days back. In this map, entitled "The Errant Isle of Manhattan", Bill has superimposed the map of Manhattan into other geographies, including Chicago (seen above), the Bay Area, and Philadelphia. It's fun to check out the sense of scale-- our little island is pretty small compared to some of these other cities.

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Comments (16) [rss]

Last I checked New York city consisted of more than a single island...

It pretty much just looks like Jersey City, Hoboken, etc, which is already there anyway. Big whoop.

They're talking about Manhattan, which is called "the City." "New York City" means all five boroughs. Even though New York City is all five boroughs, if someone just says "the City" it refers to only Manhattan.

Last I checked New York city consisted of more than a single island...

Last I checked, this post fairly clearly says the Isle of Manhattan.

Manhattan in Lake Michigan with transportation links to the city of Chicago?

There goes the neighborhood(for Chicago).

Last I checked, this post fairly clearly says the Isle of Manhattan.

You're missing my point.

Guess I'm the only person lost on the idea of comparing the portion of one city to the unportioned mass of another city. Sorry, guys. Have fun...

Yes, I think you are the only person lost. Manhattan is the City, my friend. Go ahead, walk around in Brooklyn and ask an old man "Where is the City?" and he'll point over the bridge to Manhattan. You can try and challenge him by saying "But Brooklyn is the City, right?" and he'll look at you like you're crazy. I'll bet you a zillion dollars.

You're missing my point.

Guess I'm the only person lost on the idea of comparing the portion of one city to the unportioned mass of another city. Sorry, guys. Have fun...

What, exactly, is your point? Maybe if you didn't make your point in such an obtuse way, we all would have gotten it. I mean, it can't be that clear if no one got your point...

New Yorkese, your point is well understood, but simply because some people call Manhattan "The City" doesn't mean it actually is a city of its own. It's not. So unless you have some new information that states otherwise lets move on.

My only point is there's an issue of scale in these comparisons. It's like comparing whole pizzas with pizza slices. Why not compare whole pizzas with whole pizzas. Why not compare a slice to a slice? We're comparing a part a city to entire cities.

When people I know tell me that they're going to Washington D.C., I admittedly figure they're going to be somewhere in NW portion of the city. That doesn't mean I've deluded myself into thinking that NW reprents Washington D.C. proper. There's much more to Washington than that. Same analogies could be constructed for cities such as Boston or Atlanta.

virid: It's just a map having some fun showing how Manhattan would look stuck to parts of other cities. I don't see ALL of Chicago represented in the map above. Hell, of the one of Boston, I don't even see all of Manhattan. It's just for fun. Chill out a little, man!

I am perfectly chill. I've simply been defending my opinion.

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Gothamist, why oh why are you so mash-up / map crazy? It's getting REALLY old.

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virid: you must be a lawyer, loves to play the semantics game.

I was ready to make the argument that calling Manhattan "our little Island" was nonsense when the tri-state area is, in area, the largest Megalopolis on the planet (maybe Tokyo and its suburbs is larger).

Now I see that someone else did it before me and, bizarrely and against all possible logic, is getting all sorts of grief for it. However, I'm not surprised. Scientists and Engineers have to confront a lot of scientific and mathematical illiteracy from people who would suffer a devastating psychological crisis if they gave in on related arguments. Nukes, global warming, location of Con Ed substations are some that come to mind.

Cheers!

P.S.

8 out 10 High School students (they tend to become adults) can't even guess within 500 feet how tall the WTC towers were.


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