This drawing by artist Ben Fry is not of state borders, topographical features, or water bodies. It's of streets and only streets (26 million of them). The streets' densities and shapes coalesce to create a map that communicates city cores vs. suburban sprawl, gridded vs. organic layout. Wanna see San Francisco?...

Can you approximate your neighborhood based on streets alone?
Images: Ben Fry

Comments (9)
OMG, this is the coolest thing I've seen all day!
Google map of approximately the same view:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=berkeley, ca&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=41.224889,64.248047&ie=UTF8&ll=36.765292,-120.344238&spn=5.227041,8.031006&t=h&z=7
It's beautiful! Is this map for sale as a print?
wow! very illuminating - thanks for posting.
btw, way to go at:sf lately - I find that most of the posts I click on are yours, so you're doing a great job (at least tailoring to my interest...haha!)!
Very cool. But as he points out very clearly on his website, this map is only of the contiguous (Lower 48) states. There are two more, ya know? :P
Aloha!
Way to go, Ben! I LOVE THIS!!!
Katy
http://fengshuibyfishgirl.com
amazing. I want.
This is a really neat project, but would be so much better if the map was zoomable. Not everyone lives in SF, KC, the Great Lakes, or the Appalacian Mts. GIS is awesome.
They explain on the site why they omit those two states, the roads do not make the outline.
So how can I get a giant print of this?