Parking Lot Map

 The Parking Lot Map is a project of the Parking Reform Project, an organization dedicated to climate action, safer streets and housing affordability. The map explores how much land in the central area of the major cities of the United States is dedicated to parking. On average 20% of land is dedicated to parking (this does not include the land dedicated to streets and highways). In Columbus that number is 27%.

The map interface is simple and effective-red parking lots on a gray background. There is a pick list where you can choose a city. Some cities have a "view more" button where you can get zoning details. Here is a map of the Columbus Parking Overlay District.

At the bottom is a graph ranking the cities.

The bottom entry is Arlington, Texas with 42% of its downtown dedicated to parking. The lowest non-suburban city is Las Vegas with 32% of its land as parking. 

Some people would argue that a parkable downtown is a good thing and the cities at the bottom should be considered the best places but charming old European cities like Paris aren't universally loved for their ease of parking. 

The best cities on the list tend to be older ones built out before cars. Washington D.C. only dedicates 3% of its downtown area to parking.

However there are plenty of exceptions. Detroit, the motor city, dedicated 30% of its downtown to parking.

Summer Light Reading

Here is a grab bag of maps I enjoy. I don't have much insight or commentary to add-let's just appreciate them!

SAS Airlines Map, 1965

via Airline Maps Tumblr

 

A "Belgocentric" map of Europe

via StrangeMaps

Melbourne Trams to the Beaches -Vernon Jones, 1930

available at the Transit Maps store

Vernon Jones was a printmaker who apparently did some work for the government of Victoria, Australia. I have not been able to find much information about him online the maps are truly a work of art. He used some really nice text styles too. Here is a detail from Trams to the Racecources, River and Zoo.

also from the Transit Maps store

New Jersey Lighthouses.

While on vacation at the Jersey Shore last year I took a picture of this map, hanging inside the Cape May Lighthouse.

Automobile Routes to Atlantic City sponsored by the Rudolf Hotel. I lost the original source of this one.

Hand drawn personal map of Detroit by 'jide Aje-not to scale! This is part of an exhibit/research project by Detroit Research.

via Detroitography

Walkway Over the Hudson - drawn by Maria Rabinky illustrating the bike/pedestrian rail trail bridge over the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie, New York.

The hand drawn cliffs are a really nice touch. Here's the whole map, complete with mountains and biplanes.

More to come....

Detroit in 50 Maps

 It's a strange coincidence but less than a week after blogging about Cleveland in 50 Maps, I got a notice about a successor book.

There are no maps on the web page, just the cover. The book is only available for preorder right now. Maybe when it is ready will be more to see. Here is part of the write-up

"Detroit in 50 Mapsdeconstructs the Motor City in surprising new ways. Track where new coffee shops and coworking spaces have opened and closed in the last five years. Find the areas with the highest concentrations of pizzerias, Coney Island hot dog shops, or ring-necked pheasants. In each colorful map, you'll find a new perspective on one of America’s most misunderstood cities and the people who live here."

Yes Cleveland was also described as "one of America’s most misunderstood cities".

Albert Kahn Architecture Map

Detroit's legendary industrial architect Albert Kahn left an impressive imprint locally and throughout the country. His firm has a nice interactive map of his legacy projects.

The map features residences, offices and walking tours.

Click on a project for pictures and details.

 

Zoom far in for some nice 3D details,

and zoom far out to see the nationwide scope of his work.

-via DETROITography

Detroit's Urban and Interurban Charms

Before becoming the nation's center of auto manufacturing, Detroit had an extensive urban and regional transit system. The Detroit United Railway, a consolidation of various streetcar and regional railways produced some gorgeous panoramic maps.

via Reddit

A version of this 1920 map from the David Rumsey Map Collection allows you to zoom way in and really see the nice details.

This version only has the panoramic map section. Another version on Reddit shows the whole map complete with the title block,

and descriptions of the points of interest and "nature's interurban charms."

Here's the view from Port Huron spotlighting some more rural parts of the region and a nice title block.

A less panoramic, but still charming map of the entire system area from 1913 can be found and purchased on Cameron Booth's Transit Maps web site. The above map is also for sale there.

I like the ships and fonts.

While you're vacationing through the interurban charms of southeastern Michigan, you may want to stay at the Hotel Fort Wayne. It is conveniently located at the cirner of Cass & Temple in the middle of everything as this map (via Detroitography) shows.

A zoomed in view shows the proximity to the theaters, transit and City Hall

The Guardian Building Mural

Next time I visit Detroit the Guardian Building, an art deco "cathedral of finance" will be on my must see list. Not because it is a "timeless depiction of creativity and accomplishment" but because of the Michigan map mural. Just look at how it's situated! It's like the Cathedral of the Holy Map!

The map on its own does not show much - mainly colored counties and water bodies along with various figures and coats of arms. If you're a Michigan purist you will note that most of the Upper Peninsula is missing. Its more about how the map is displayed.

Here I have zoomed in a bit for better detail

The above pictures are from this page on flickriver but you can also go inside the lobby on Google StreetView.

You can also see some great art deco details from the links above including a Tiffany glass clock, a stained glass Native American mosaic, light fixtures and even details around the elevator doors.

Mapping the Detroit Riot from the Streets

50 years ago one of the largest riots in US History took place in Detroit. The following year geographer William Bunge began an innovative project, the Detroit Geographical Expedition. People from underprivileged neighborhoods were taught to use mapping as a tool to highlight racial inequities. These untrained mappers created some excellent maps showing the plight of their neighborhoods. I plan to show more of these in a future post, but for now here are some maps of the 1967 riot.

The report that includes these maps can be seen here - this is a large file that may be slow to download.

July 25, 1967*, 7:30 AM

The riot stemmed from a raid at an after hours bar called the Blind Pig (top of the map) on 12th Street (now Rosa Parks Boulevard). The next map shows the spread of the riot between 7:30 and 9:30...

... and then at 9:45 AM.

Here is a map of fire damage across the city.

The 12th Street Riot area is the dense cluster north of Grand Boulevard and West of Woodward.

*Most accounts say the riot began on the 23rd - though it lasted for several days, these maps appear to show the early stages. Therefore the date on the map (the 25th) may be inaccurate.

Michigan's Gayest Square Mile

Many people think of suburban Ferndale as the gay part of Detroit. Like much of the population, the white LGBT community gradually moved north until they left the city altogether. However in the early 1970's the Palmer Park area was the center of gay culture and there still is a sizable African-American gay community in the area.

The above map via WDET, was originally featured in a 1972 travel magazine. There are some nice pictorial elements but unlike many pictorial maps, the accuracy does not suffer from these details. The radio station's CuriosiD page includes this map along with stories, audio and an interactive map showing the movement of gay culture since 1930.
If the gay community has largely moved to the suburbs then the above map suffers from not including those areas. The only clear pattern is a general spreading out from downtown. There is a cluster of activity in Palmer Park* but it does not stand out from other areas. The color scheme is also not great for visualization.

*Palmer Park is immediately north of the jagged shaped hole in the city that includes the independent cities of Hamtramck and Highland Park.

The Atlas of Design II

Last year the North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS) published Volume II of the Atlas of Design. I looked at some of the online content, was very impressed and then stupidly forgot about it. This year with the holidays coming, I hinted to my wife that I might know of a nice Hanukkah gift. She took the hint and this fantastic book landed in our doorway. There's too much awesome to do it all justice but here are a few samples of what's inside. Note - since these maps are copyrighted, I only reproduced pieces that are already available on the Atlas site.

1. "The Road from Madison..." by Andrew Umentum

This map chronicles a bicycle trip from Umentum's home in Madison, Wisconsin to New Orleans and then back again via Detroit. It is presented as a series of strips, inspired by Jon Ogilby's 1675 atlas of England and Wales - example here.

I love the details he brings out to give the map life. Also the way the lack of state boudaries and south(!) arrows force you to see these places from a different perspective. Rather than divide us, the states merge together into one continuous landscape.

2. "Map of the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway" by Dong Zheng

Inspired by pre-modern Chinese maps that were primarily intended to be paintings, the map uses a birds-eye view. The modern railroad and buildings blend harmoniously with the ancient landscape and built environment.

 3. "The Heart of Canyonlands National Park" by Tom Patterson

This was an exercise in using Terrain Texture Shader to generate improved hillshading. The author was inspired by Bradford Washburn's Grand Canyon map and by Swiss topo map techniques and shows that beauty can be found in cartographic algorithms.

4. "The Family Farm" by Alex Hotchin

I love a good hand drawn map and this one tells a story of a particular place. Where exactly this is is not clear. The stories have no personal meaning outside of the author's family, yet he still makes you care about this place.

5. "The Asheville Map" by Bruce and Nora Daniel

This fold-out paper map can also be found and purchased online. The base colors are unique (beige roads!) and were inspired by the colors of the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains. The map is artistic yet much more easily readable (and more accurate) than those touristy maps you often get when traveling.

There are many more maps here - 32 in total. Some are made by people I know. The range of techniques and styles is impressive. Most of them beautiful, all interesting in their own way. The previews don't do the maps justice and since in many cases they are not available online I guess you need to buy the atlas to see the full maps. If you're looking for a nice holiday gift for a map fanatic (or even casual map gawker) check it out.

10 More Maps That Won't Change Your Anything!

They just keep coming! A constant stream of clickbait about how a series of maps will change your life, make you think differently, increase your earnings, and help you finally get that promotion. OK, perhaps the latest version is a bit more modest seeking only to "teach you something new about the world" - though the merit of knowing how to say "bear" in different European languages is debatable.

Here we attempt to free you from the burden of such claims. Like a good summer read, here are some maps that are unlikely to change your life but you may enjoy them just the same.
  
1. Map of the Detroit area on a Motown single

2. Map from a menu of the Brown Derby, Los Angeles via The New Yorker

3. Map of Heisenberg - a fictional city based on Breaking Bad

4.  Map of Albuquerque - an actual city based on Breaking Bad

5. Historic map of the Black Swamp - from a Toledo Bellows article about the Black Swamp Underground, a Toledo area musicians' collective.

6. Tourist map of the Hague by Zara Picken.

7. Manitou Springs, Colorado where I had an excellent breakfast once. From the Colorado Springs Gazette, 1922.