You are here.

June 26, 2014 12:28 PM

You Are Here maps out neat things like the best mode of transportation in your city, incidences of illness at New York City hospitals, permanent US visa applications and street greenery.
posted by roomthreeseventeen (10 comments total)

The "best mode of transportation" one seems a little (or a lot) skewed. I've lived in three of the cities represented, and in none of the three cases does the map take into consideration the public transit options that pick up essentially at the doorstep of spots one clicks on. For example, no, map, it is not more efficient for me to bike across Bernal Hill to get to 24th and Mission since there's a bus that will do that for me in about half the time it would take to bike there. For example, no, map, it is not more efficient for me to drive to Dolores Park when I can walk to the J Church muni and get dropped off right at the park. Ditto with examples in DC and Santa Monica.

Cute concept, poorly executed?
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 12:52 PM on June 26, 2014

The "Coffeeshops in Brooklyn" one is WAY off; they have Fort Defiance listed as a coffee shop rather than a full-on restaurant, and don't even acknowledge the existence of Baked, only a half block away.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:57 PM on June 26, 2014

Yeah, public transportation for Cambridge seems to include the T, but not the bus.

Also, it's a bit odd that they've done lots of work for Cambridge, but BOSTON isn't there. I suppose Cambridge has many, many more urban planning students. (And is probably an easier, more coherent target than Boston)

Edit: AHA! This is Media Lab project. That explains why it is awesome looking but kinda useless and ignores lots of real world solutions/applications/problems.
posted by maryr at 12:59 PM on June 26, 2014 [6 favorites]

I am incredibly amused that the 'number one' (not really--it's about a 40-way tie) occupation for Houston visa applicants in '12 and '13 was librarian. Dubious, but amused.

On the subject of multi-way ties, this site allows WAY too many. I stopped counting after counting more than 50 'number one' companies listed for Houston visa applicants. Interesting data and I'd like to see more (with details on data quality--I highly doubt our branch campus brought in more visa applicants than the main one), but there are some kinks to work out.
posted by librarylis at 1:02 PM on June 26, 2014

The awake maps are pretty neat to watch though.
posted by maryr at 1:04 PM on June 26, 2014

I'm pretty sure they don't include buses in the New York Maps. Or they think that I can bike as fast as a bus (hint: I can't).
posted by Hactar at 1:22 PM on June 26, 2014

OTOH, even considering the buses it's usually quicker to bike across Cambridge.
posted by atbash at 1:29 PM on June 26, 2014

"You Are Here" unless you don't live in the USA, in which case you aren't here at all.
posted by erlking at 1:33 PM on June 26, 2014 [4 favorites]

Well, it's very little of the US as well. As I noted, they didn't even do the large city next door to their lab.
posted by maryr at 1:39 PM on June 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

I like the fact that the Portland street greenery map pretty much crashes my browser. Seems about right.
posted by montag2k at 1:59 PM on June 26, 2014