a super weekend diversion / getting lost in Manhattan maps

hours of fun! (this should come with a warning)
Note to self: collect links to cool Manhattan stuff like old maps. Let’s begin!

I tweeted a week ago a link to a source for an 1807 map of Manhattan that you could zoom in on. The link was to the Big Map Blog, and the h/t probably should go to either Curbed or The Real Deal (it is just too hard to give hat tips in 140 characters). (That’s @ManhattnLoftGuy if you do that sort of thing, but note the condensed spelling to keep within their character limits for twit names.) That is the kind of thing to click on only when you have some time to get distracted.

Other sources for diversion (distraction!) are the New York Public Library and Channel 13 sites. Somebody (Curbed? TRD? Beuhler?) linked to this Channel 13 piece about a digitization project by NYPL.  Channel 13 started with maps from 1846, 1857, or 1916 and overlaid current images from Google Earth. (Note to self … learn Google Earth.) But that is a small slice of what will be possible.

But here is the full goodness coming down the road:

The New York Public Library is nearly finished digitizing its collection of more than 10,000 historical maps, which illuminate the shifting character of the city over time. Some maps highlight the long defunct shops and factories that once dotted the landscape, while others show how the street patterns of entire neighborhoods were reconfigured. The coolest part? These maps can be loaded into Google Earth, allowing you to view the old map atop a modern view of the same area.

The New York Public Library might be the coolest, most forward-thinking library in the world. But then I am a New Yorker, and somewhat (!) snobbish.

© Sandy Mattingly 2012