cool maps #1

M15 Bus, Self Cities, One Minute Park, & PamPam

Sep 09, 2024

i spent half of my year at NEW INC too intimidated to start something small among more established artists and technologists, and the latter half too embarrassed to start one so late. perfectionism is really a villain of the creative process.

a big part of that process is inspiration - collecting interesting examples, stumbling across fun projects. and another part is sharing and feedback - socializing ideas, gathering excitement and avenues of improvement. the former often provides ample momentum to create, and the latter, to keep creating. so, the premise is simple. as an experiment to get over those humps, i’m committing to sharing 3 sources of cartographic inspiration each month, along with 1 personal work in progress. welcome to the first edition:

(this is also a birthday gift to myself, crossing my fingers that cool maps get locked into my developed frontal cortex)

3 inspirations

South-up M15 map

scattered across the southbound side of 2nd Avenue are maps of the M15 bus - one of the most (and arguably only) reliable bus in NYC.
one of many examples of when turning the “north-up” default on its head creates a more helpful wayfinding tool for people travelling southbound. I love that this one can be found in a borough reliant on grids of streets and avenues that increase stacking northbound.
lots of maps, old & new, are oriented by river flow directions, directions of movement, direction of the sun, etc. we’re just so used to north-up as the default, that seeing one in the wild reminded me to look at how we navigate the rigidity of NYC a little differently.

Self Cities Workshop

last month I had the pleasure of attending Klara Blazek’s Self Cities workshop, on using maps and collage as a medium of self understanding though recognizing the complexity of locational identity.
i spent a saturday afternoon sketching maps of the 9 neighbourhoods i’ve gotten to call home, and tracing paths of where i’d most often get distracted on (usually for a sweet treat) while on the way home. I got to reminisce on the routine of gas station sour keys after middle school days, to bakeries i itch to stop by on my walk to work.
Klara’s workshop inspired me the way she facilitated conversation, discovery & play - making sure the time was as much personal as much as it was collective.

One Minute Park

although not a geographic map, Elliot Cost’s One Minute Park was a love at first sight kind of site. this page allows you to visit the world’s parks, one minute at time, collected from clips of people’s most treasured green spaces.
it’s autoplay short form video with good conscience. instead of scrolling you through ads and brainrot, it sits you down in front of serenity.
one minute park was also the winner of this year’s Tiny Awards, an annual celebration of the beauty and shared love for the playful, tiny web. (and one that myself, Leslie, and Aman were honoured to be nominated alongside our friends and inspirations this year)

1 work in progress

PamPam Walk & Suncast

a few months ago, I was introduced to PamPam, a web based tool that allows anyone to create personal maps - with the world as their canvas.
i got the chance to connect with one of their co-founders, Helena, with the idea of hosting a walk with them through my favourite place right now, the East Village.
we’re planning to start the walk at the infamous Abraco, and end with a picnic in Tompkins Square Park. on the way, we’ll bump into some friends at their favourite spots.
included is a detour across St. Marks between 1st Ave and Ave A for Suncast: another project I’ve been collaborating on with Leela Shanker and the Flint Collective lighting designers, shedding a new light on the street through temporary activations that celebrate daylight. (i’ll also be hosting a memory mapping workshop at their opening on Sept 21st, 11am, at 95 St. Marks Pl)
details should be announced soon (for both), if all goes to plan.

that’s it! let me know if you see a cool map in the wild (or if you make one yourself)