cool maps #4

i have to admit, cool maps is typo central. each post so far has needed more than a handful of edits after publishing [edit count for this one = 3]. although, it’s not a surprise. i’ve always known myself as someone who isn’t so detail oriented: it was the most repeated comment on my school report cards, and to this day i often lose patience when it comes to the minute details.

i’m wondering whether or not this is something i should work on to improve, or something i should accept about myself. or maybe, has it become so intertwined with my identity, that its really just a self fulfilling prophecy?

on the other hand, i’ve always identified as someone who’s quite good at wayfinding -i’ve even joked that i can feel magnetic north in my belly button (i can’t). but really, i don’t think i’m better than the average person in finding a route from point A to point B, or knowing which intersection corner i’ve emerged from the subway station at. i just have high confidence that i won’t get lost. so much so, that it’s become a part of my personality - and maybe also, a self fulfilling prophecy.

anyway, to celebrate messiness as a personality trait, i updated the cool maps wordmark with my unruly trackpad handwriting. enjoy!

3 inspirations

• this is a project by artist nobutaka aozaki, where he created a map of manhattan only using hand drawn maps collected from pedestrians he stopped to ask for directions from, while pretending to be a device-less tourist.

• asking how to get form point a to point b is such an interesting way to depict boundaries of each tile, and use the prompt to create connections between.

• this project really caught my attention with its infinite parallels to projects i have in the works - branching off from the memory mapping workshops i had been running. this idea of a collective, collaborative spatial memory has been so fascinating to me - as well as the performance art element.

• i’ve had this visualization saved for a while, and was recently surfaced to me via browsing my own bookmarks bar, and i’m so glad it did.

• these stringlines are time and distance charts illustrating the real-time movement of MTA trains between stations over time—for each subway line. you get to quickly scan when trains crowd together as a result of delays, or speculate stops where someone might be letting out a sigh seeing a longer than usual wait time

• i’ve been working on a collection of necklaces inspired by commutes, and this served as great inspiration for how i might want to display or annotate them.

• this project was shared to me by my friend nicholas chen, and was practically begging for a cool maps shoutout.

• this site, created as a Recurse Center project by Shenai Chan, is a love letter to distanced love. seeing the stats combined is a little reminder of just how much outstretched love there is in the world. whether fleeting, or budding, this love traverses coasts and continents alike.

• my friends used to joke that i have a type: men who are emotionally available but geographically unavailable. i must admit, this project also tugged on those strings just a little.

1 work in progress

• remember when i said i didn’t want to feel forced to combine my interests? well i guess i did it anyway.

• i’ve been thinking a lot about representations of wayfinding beyond paper maps - for example, how Maui people use stars as a compass, or how enslaved people used braids to hide directions that would lead them to safety.

• this collection of necklaces serve as a way for you to navigate from one spot in NYC to another through the MTA system. the beads represent stops, transfers, express, and local lines - creating a tactile and wearable set of directions.

• they made their debut at Tangents two weeks ago: a gallery that my friends Lulu, Leslie, and i put together in less than two weeks, showcasing 8+ of our friends’ creative tangents to 60+ people. i’m so grateful for their collaboration, and proud of the creative energy we got to celebrate.

• the addition of the NFC metrocard was inspired by spencer chang’s webstones (perfect if you’re looking for a computing infused holiday gift). this charm can be added to the necklace, and serves as a cheat sheet if you get lost: tap it with an unlocked phone to get redirected to real-time digital directions.

can i add a new section to this email? next sunday, Lucy, Connie and I will be selling some artisanal, small-batch, locally sourced datasets at larpa.mill in Bushwick. i’ll be distributing digital and physical archives of different Central Parks and Prospect Parks collected across a bunch of NYC city maps, as a milestone of embarking on a small poster project. here’s a sneak peek:

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