Map of the Weekend-Riding the Hubway

Yesterday Boston finally caught up to Washington, DC and Minneapolis and started a bike share program - the Hubway. They have an interactive map showing the stations and availability of bicycles at each one.

 

Currently the system serves limited areas but they plan to expand it into Cambridge, Somerville and other neighborhoods in Boston. I have not had a chance to try it out yet (as I did in Montreal - see the comments section from this post) but the Boston Globe did and posted this somewhat unfair article where they raced it against the subway and a taxi. In addition to the indirect route the bicyclist took, she also needed to purchase a membership pass. I've cycled on those streets and find it hard to believe that it would take half an hour to get from the library to Bobby Orr. Anyway the graphic is well done.

If you're in town give it a ride. The streets are not ideal for cycling but it's still the best way to see a new place or get a new perspective on a familiar one.

Map of the Week-Patriot's Day Edition

Monday is Patriot's Day here in Massachusetts. We commemorate the first revolutionary war battles by taking a day off from work and re-enacting these battles. We also have related activities like a morning Red Sox game,  a marathon, drinking beer out of paper bags on the T and bragging about our "wicked awesome" sports teams.  Here is a map of the activities of April 19th, 1775 - some of it happened right down the street from me.  

Thanks to the Department of Military Science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute for the map. Their timeline of events (and this map) can be found here. 

Map of the Week 120-Boston Squared

Next week the Association of American Geographers holds their annual meeting here in Boston, a city so confusing even a geographer can get lost. The folks at Radical Cartography put out the map below to try and help demystify the "squares" of Boston. In Boston a square is not actually shaped like a square as it is in places like Philadelphia and Savannah. A square is a place where streets come at you from all kinds of directions. If you're crazy enough to try driving through one of them you have about a 10% chance of ending up where you want and about an 85% chance of ending up frustrated, angry or in a pile of twisted metal (these stats have not been verified).

Of course the map below won't help you find your way much either. You're better off taking the T and using their map. What this map does accomplish is to indicate where all these squares are. People here navigate by square names and they are omitted from most maps. So when someone tells to to go to Copley Square for the AAG meeting you'll know where to go. And if they tell you about a great donut shop in Union Square you'll at least be able to narrow it down to two places.

Some of these square names may be a bit too literal - yes Newton Corner is technically called "Nonantum Square" but nobody really calls it that (causes confusion with Nonantum Village). And J. Elliot? C'mon! We all know it's "The Dudley". Anyway if nothing else the map is an alternate view of Boston from a local perspective. So welcome to town geographers, have a lovely stay and don't venture too far on your own without a good map or you may get lost in some confusing square like this one.

MOTW #80

Yes it's another toilet map. But this one's cool because it shows you how much use they get. It's also helpful to me as I go by Langone Field often on my bicycle and didn't know I had that option. All the fields should have these as I recently watched a softball game and we all had to take turns sneaking into the woods. The Aquarium toilet gets an awful lot of use considering how often it's out of service. This map is from the Boston Globe.

MOTW #20

Anagram transit maps are suddenly all the rage. You may find your favorite city at Boing Boing
where you can spend hours of fun.
Here's one for Boston: