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New York Minute

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A different kind of subway map.

9 comments

1 ms october   ~  Jul 31, 2013 10:11 am

that is bizarre.
i can't decide if i sort of like it or hate it.

2 RIYank   ~  Jul 31, 2013 10:32 am

It makes no sense to me.
Why arcs of circles? It's not accurate, and it's completely unhelpful to think of NY organized into circles. (As compared with DC, say, where it makes perfect sense.)

3 ms october   ~  Jul 31, 2013 10:36 am

[2] yea it really has no usefulness as a map. it is more like a piece of art work.

4 Chyll Will   ~  Jul 31, 2013 11:02 am

Nevermind all that, tell me more about that fortress... >;)

5 monkeypants   ~  Jul 31, 2013 12:17 pm

It makes pretty good sense as a schematic representation. It would be helpful for, say, non-New Yorkers who want to see how various lines and stops relate to each other functionally, assuming that one stays underground for all transit and does not walk between stops (in which case, a geographic representation is more useful.

Some studies of ancient and medieval memory techniques suggest that people in the past did not always clearly understand space---when going from point A to point B---in two dimensions, but rather as a series of landmarks arranged in a "line."

6 RIYank   ~  Jul 31, 2013 1:21 pm

I don't get it. Why arcs of circles? In what way does that represent the topology of the system better than straight lines would?

7 Chyll Will   ~  Jul 31, 2013 4:18 pm

[6] Maybe he's channeling Gustav Klimt...

8 monkeypants   ~  Jul 31, 2013 8:51 pm

[6] If you read the article, the artist comments that the arcs don't work as well for NYC because it is a grid rather than radial city--this was basically an artistic exercise. Still, it would depend on what is placed at the center of the arcs. For example, if many different lines intersect at a few important junctures, these might be the functional center of the system even if the location(s) are not in the geographic center of the city. The map could be drawn to show how the transportation system flows to and from these few important nodes.

9 RIYank   ~  Jul 31, 2013 9:05 pm

When many lines meet at a functional center, that's a radial city; that's what it means. And that's why DC would make sense conceptualized in concentric circles. This map has its center approximately at the Statue of Liberty.

I guess the artist thinks it looks pretty.

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