Manhattan elsewhere

I have a weakness for Manhattan. I also have a weakness for maps. Put the two together and I’m pretty much defenseless.

Jason Kottke has created an interesting little project called Manhattan Elsewhere, taking the familiar outline of Manhattan and dropping it onto other American cities. San Francisco for example suddenly finds itself with a large slab of New York sitting on top of it like an uninvited dinner guest. It’s a simple idea, but strangely revealing.

Once upon a time in Manhattan.

I’ve walked the streets of both Manhattan and San Francisco, yet it’s surprisingly difficult to appreciate the actual size of Manhattan while you’re there. Perhaps it’s the shape of the island, perhaps it’s the rigid street grid, or perhaps New York simply overwhelms the senses until concepts like distance become irrelevant.

You walk twenty blocks because the map makes it look reasonable. Then another twenty. There’s always another deli, another bar, another intersection promising something interesting just ahead. Eventually your feet begin filing formal complaints.

Maps, however, are brutally unsentimental. Remove the skyscrapers, yellow cabs, steam rising from manholes and people shouting into mobile phones, and Manhattan is simply a rather substantial piece of land.

Naturally, I had to conduct the same experiment with my hometown. So here it is: Manhattan dropped onto Gothenburg.

Gothenburg vs Manhattan (maps by Google).

Suddenly that supposedly compact little island doesn’t look quite so little anymore.