An old proverb says that "a picture is worth a thousand words." In the case of data maps this is literally true. Data maps are made of thousands of numbers presented as a picture.
it's fun to see these cities grow and change, but the really interesting bit is creating slideshows. they've created a few to get you started:
hit the play button and watch the african-american community start as a little speck otherwise known as harlem and spread into brooklyn and queens. also of note, specific data on asians, hispanics, and native americans starts in 1980. pre-1980 you only get black, white, and "other".
in january, i became a five-year resident of san francisco. i absolutely love it... the hills, the ocean, the neighborhoods, the food, the people, the proximity to the mountains, and on and on. i don't pine away for nyc too often, but every once in a while something comes along to remind me why i loved living there for those crucial years in my 20s.
woo·ster (noun) A street in the Soho section of New York City
col·lec·tive (adj.) Of, relating to, characteristic of, or made by a number of people acting as a group: a collective decision.
The Wooster Collective was founded in 2001. This site is dedicated to showcasing and celebrating ephemeral art placed on streets in cities around the world.
i didn't explore the art world nearly as much as one can in manhattan, but i actually saw quite a bit -- between living in the east village and lower east side and working in chelsea when it was just taking over the gallery hot spot from soho. however, i really haven't explored this world at all in san francisco. i love the murals scattered around the city, and i've tried to capture some of the graffiti, but i wouldn't even know where to start in terms of galleries.
perhaps that's why i got so sucked into the WC site this evening. the focus on underground, or guerilla, or street art is really fascinating. i loved seeing bits of my old hometown, along with a gentle reminder that there's incredibly coolshit happening in my current hometown.
Tonight is Manhattanhenge, take two! If you miss it tonight, you'll have to wait until next summer. :)
If the Manhattan grid matched the geographic north-south line, then our special days would be the equinoxes, the two days on the calendar when the Sun rises due east and sets due west. But Manhattan is rotated 30 degrees east from geographic north, shifting the special days to May 28th and July 12 and 13.
Today's approximate sunset time in NYC is 8:27 pm.
footnote... looks like a popular viewing place last night was at 42nd St & Tudor City Place -- Tudor City Place is above 42 street, so you can stand in the middle of the street!
Next Sunday and on July 13, the sun will fully illuminate every Manhattan cross street (not the curved or angled ones) on the street grid during the last 15 minutes of daylight, and it will set on each street's center line. The NYC version of Stonehenge!
