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DOT Rolls Out Slick $6 Million Laser-Printed Street Map Signage
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 14, 2013
Modified Jan 14, 2013
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 14, 2013
Modified Jan 14, 2013
Share
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Even "real" New Yorkers sometimes lose their sense of direction (especially when emerging from an unfamiliar subway station). According to a DOT survey, ten percent of New Yorkers couldn't say which direction was north when asked, and one third of those surveyed said they'd gotten lost at least once during the past week. And then there are the poor bewildered tourists, who have money to spend but often don't know how to get to their designated spendin' place—23% of visitors surveyed said they were lost. To that end, the DOT is installing 150 "wayfinding" signs on the street to orient everyone to their immediate surroundings.
The Observer reports that the maps are designed by PentaCity, a collaboration between the white hot graphic design studio Pentagram, map makers City ID and industrial designers Billings Jackson. Each map shows lost souls where they are, the streets surrounding them, notable landmarks, and estimated walking times in minutes for a few nearby destinations. They'll cost about $6 million to create and install; 80% of that comes from the federal DOT, with most of the rest coming from local Business Improvement Districts who've agreed to help maintain the maps. According to the Observer:
One of their keen innovations is that the signs are formatted in “heads-up mapping,” meaning that they are oriented the way a person is looking. Rather than putting north at the top, what is in front of map readers is at the top, what is behind them is at the bottom. The map on the other side of the new signs is therefore “upside down.”
Another interesting innovation is the maps are laser printed directly onto the glass. “Don’t you just hate those crinkly paper maps?” Ms. Sadik-Khan said. “This will never happen with ours.” But the ink can be wiped away and the glass reprinted as the map changes, allowing for easy updates without having to make a new map.
The Daily News reports that the maps will be installed "in the Fashion District; Chinatown; Long Island City, Queens; and Prospect Heights/Crown Heights, Brooklyn; plus another 300 at bike share stations in Manhattan below 59th St. and part of Brooklyn." But why do we need to spend taxpayer dollars on new maps when the various Business Improvement Districts around town have their own little street maps? “There’s a real cacophony of signage out there,” DOT Commisioner Sadik-Khan tells the Observer. Now if we could only get the DOT to finish installing those sidewalk tourist lanes!
Tagged
dot
maps
wayfinding
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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