Urban Diversion 3.0

Is Texas the only state with a city named Paris?  Is Illinois the only with Springfield?

Ever wondered how many states have similar named cities?  You might consider this an exercise in urbanism by association, or perhaps just a random idea for mapping.

In Identically Named Places Connected (USA), Neil Freeman creates a visualization for this very question.

[Image: Identically Named Places Connected (USA) by Neil Freeman.  Courtesy of NAC.]

A description of the process via Next American City:

I began with data downloaded from the US Census website. The files contained the locations and boundaries of every place (anything from a hamlet to a major city) in the US. I first manipulated these files with specialized geographic software, then in a custom database. I then wrote a small application to parse the data and generate the basic image. I did further work on the image in a Adobe Illustrator.

… and via Visualingual:

Places with the same name, such as Springfield in Massachusetts, Missouri and Illinois (just three of the 3,200 towns and cities represented here) are connected to each other with a line that move from black to white in alphabetical procession. The work attempts to find a pattern where there should be none. Unsurprisingly, no order underlies the locations of places with the same name. Instead, we are presented with a dense, chaotic network. Non-geographical mapping reveals the layering of allusion, cliche and reference that cover the physical space of our continental nation.

[Image: Detail of Identically Named Places Connected (USA). Courtesy of NAC.]

Neil Freeman, a 27 year old artist, designed this exclusively for Next American City. He also answers the following questions in conjunction with the project on NAC’s website here.

• At first glance, the image looks simple, but the more one looks at it one realizes how complex and dense the drawing is. To the uninitiated, this looks like a lot of work or the product of a smart computer program — how did you actually create this image?
• Many of the works you have created in the past deal with geography and cartography. Can you describe why you are fascinated by maps?
• You’re a student at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. How is this project influenced by your education?.

In their effort to think creatively about funding, Next American City looks to start a limited edition program with this print.  With each new issue of their magazine they will offer a new print.  Diana Lind, the editor-in-chief, describes this program as follows:

Why are we selling prints? We’re a non-profit, subject to the whims of the economy like anyone else. You want more exciting content, we need the money to make that happen. We like advertising that’s helpful to our readers, but we don’t want our magazine or web site to be beholden to ad dollars. So we thought of a more fun, creative way to bring in revenue — limited editions. You buy one for a hundred bucks and that money goes directly into editorial content. You can even comment in the PayPal form how you want your money to be spent. That hundred bucks will also likely pay off better than investing in Uncle Sam.

If they keep bringing unique prints like this one, I’m sure it will be a successful program for them.  I’m just curious to see how many repeat buyers they will have at $100 a pop.

For more on Neil Freeman, visit his website fake is the new real.

If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.