If you\u2019re try\u00ading to under\u00adstand a city, its map isn\u2019t a bad place to start. Today, of course, we can call up an accu\u00adrate map of prac\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly any part of any city at any time we like, with detailed point-to-point direc\u00adtions avail\u00adable on com\u00admand. Turn on the satel\u00adlite view, street view, or 3D mode with its offer of every imag\u00adin\u00adable point of view, and you soon feel you\u2019re engag\u00ading with less a rep\u00adre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtion of the city than the city itself. Yet the famil\u00adiar\u00adi\u00adty this makes us feel we pos\u00adsess is decep\u00adtive, a real\u00adiza\u00adtion that comes afresh when\u00adev\u00ader our phone runs out of bat\u00adtery, leav\u00ading us bare\u00adly able to find our way through even neigh\u00adbor\u00adhoods we\u2019d thought we knew. Sheer habit can get us between the places we fre\u00adquent, but that\u2019s a far cry indeed from under\u00adstand\u00ading the city as a whole.<\/p>\n
That last is just what YouTu\u00adber Daniel Stein\u00ader<\/a> attempts to do in his series of map explain\u00aders<\/a>, which draws con\u00adnec\u00adtions between the large-scale, abstract\u00aded view of the map and the con\u00adcrete expe\u00adri\u00adence down on the street. He not only uses maps both cur\u00adrent and his\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal to illu\u00admi\u00adnate why the street net\u00adwork and neigh\u00adbor\u00adhood bound\u00adaries of a giv\u00aden city have tak\u00aden the shape they have, but actu\u00adal\u00adly trav\u00adels to that city and meets with experts equipped to point out phys\u00adi\u00adcal traces of that process of urban evo\u00adlu\u00adtion that escape the atten\u00adtion of most locals.<\/p>\n Those could be the infra\u00adstruc\u00adtur\u00adal rem\u00adnants of Roman Lon\u00addon<\/a> (or rather Lon\u00addini\u00adum<\/a>); the unloved Tokyo<\/a> over\u00adpass where the major roads of old Japan once con\u00adverged;\u00a0the sur\u00advey\u00ador\u2019s rod from the orig\u00adi\u00adnal grid\u00adding of Man\u00adhat\u00adtan<\/a> stick\u00ading out of what\u2019s now Cen\u00adtral Park<\/a>; or the con\u00adtours of Ams\u00adter\u00addam<\/a> even before its famous canals went in.<\/p>\n One vis\u00adit to a city, of course, can hard\u00adly an under\u00adstand\u00ading make. Stein\u00ader has so far returned to New York to cre\u00adate addi\u00adtion\u00adal videos focus\u00ading on Broad\u00adway<\/a>, Brook\u00adlyn<\/a>, the Bronx<\/a>,\u00a0and Stat\u00aden Island<\/a>, and his\u00a0exam\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion of Los Ange\u00adles<\/a> ends with a call for requests for more sub\u00adjects to cov\u00ader with\u00adin the vast odd\u00adi\u00adty of the south\u00adern Cal\u00adi\u00adfor\u00adnia metrop\u00ado\u00adlis. His map explain\u00aders on oth\u00ader Amer\u00adi\u00adcan cities from\u00a0Chica\u00adgo<\/a> to Seat\u00adtle<\/a> to\u00a0Savan\u00adnah, Geor\u00adgia<\/a> also show great poten\u00adtial for fol\u00adlow-ups,\u00a0to say noth\u00ading of\u00a0how deep he could get into\u00a0Mex\u00adi\u00adco City after hav\u00ading told the sto\u00adry of how\u00a0it used to be a lake<\/a>. Part of these cities\u2019 appeal lies in the fact that, no mat\u00adter how long you spend in them, you can nev\u00ader get to know them com\u00adplete\u00adly, irre\u00adsistible though it is to try. To the ques\u00adtion of whether that attempt is best made top-down or bot\u00adtom-up, Stein\u00ader\u2019s videos\u00a0respond implic\u00adit\u00adly \u2014 and con\u00advinc\u00ading\u00adly \u2014 why not both?<\/p>\n Relat\u00aded con\u00adtent:<\/p>\n Why Dutch & Japan\u00adese Cities Are Insane\u00adly Well Designed (and Amer\u00adi\u00adcan Cities Are Ter\u00adri\u00adbly Designed)<\/a><\/p>\n A Won\u00adder\u00adful Archive of His\u00adtoric Tran\u00adsit Maps: Expres\u00adsive Art Meets Pre\u00adcise Graph\u00adic Design<\/a><\/p>\n Ani\u00adma\u00adtions Visu\u00adal\u00adize the Evo\u00adlu\u00adtion of Lon\u00addon and New York: From Their Cre\u00adation to the Present Day<\/a><\/p>\n The Genius Urban Design of Ams\u00adter\u00addam: Canals, Dams & Lean\u00ading Hous\u00ades<\/a><\/p>\n 136 Maps Reveal Where Tourists & Locals Take Pho\u00adtos in Major Cities Across the Globe<\/a><\/p>\n Japan\u00adese Design\u00ader Cre\u00adates Incred\u00adi\u00adbly Detailed & Real\u00adis\u00adtic Maps of a City That Doesn\u2019t Exist<\/a><\/p>\n Based in Seoul,\u00a0Col\u00adin<\/a>\u00a0M<\/a>a<\/a>rshall<\/a>\u00a0writes and broad\u00adcasts on cities, lan\u00adguage, and cul\u00adture. He\u2019s the author of the newslet\u00adter\u00a0Books on Cities<\/a>\u00a0as well as the books\u00a0\ud55c\uad6d \uc694\uc57d \uae08\uc9c0<\/a>\u00a0(No Sum\u00adma\u00adriz\u00ading Korea) and\u00a0Kore\u00adan Newtro<\/a>.\u00a0Fol\u00adlow him on the social net\u00adwork for\u00admer\u00adly known as Twit\u00adter at\u00a0@colinm<\/a>a<\/a>rshall<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t