Transverse Sections of Manhattan

Last Autumn I was in New York and one of the many things I did whilst I was out there was make a few new pieces of work.

The first is called Five Transverse Sections of Manhattan, and comprises GPS error traces from 10 walks across the island of Manhattan between East and West coasts (or as close as I could reasonably get).

Using a satellite underlay to match the GPS data to the appropriate roads

Today I tweaked the scaling of the traces to get them how I want them and did a few trial prints at A2 size. They look good!

It's always nice when the lines get a bit of space to breathe in

I’m pondering making this work available for purchase as an archive quality print. If you’re interested in owning one, let me know.

Manhattan in cross-section

For the last few weeks I’ve been walking across Manhattan from East coast to West and back again gathering GPS data.

West of West 81st Street

East of East 79th Street, about 50 minutes later

I’m interested in how the land use (and therefore the effect on the GPS) varies as you move inland, gradually moving into more affluent areas, then the open space of Central Park, then out to the coast again.

As I repeat the process for different streets, I also get a sense of the change in landscape as I move further North: Midtown East becomes the Upper East Side becomes East Harlem; Midtown West becomes the Upper West Side becomes Morningside Heights.

I’ve recently reached the stage where I’ve been able to get the traces printed out and it’s interesting to see the ghosts of the city in the lines.

First printout of the processed GPS data

I’m looking forward to getting back home and being able to print them out full-size to enjoy and explore in more detail.

East – West

66th Street: there and back again