Introduction
New York City is extensive, there’s no doubt about that. With this extensiveness, a method of transportation has been implemented that has and is continuously allowing millions of New Yorkers to get from place to place. The NYC subway first opened up on October 27th,1904, becoming one of the largest American systems built around that time. The first line which was operated by the Interborough Transit Company(IRT) ran through Manhattan through 28 stations. Since 1968, the subway fell under the control of the Metropolitan Transit Authority or more well known as the MTA. The MTA now has 26 lines and 472 stations operating all over NYC (History.com, 2009). It continues to remain the only rapid transit system that is open twenty-four-seven.
I still marvel at the robustness of the NYC subway system. I remember using this transit system as a method of transportation when I was a little girl, from taking it to high school every day to now using it to get to my graduate school. The subway system continues to get me from place to place with such ease and so I wanted to explore where all the different subway stations are located within all the boroughs.
Inspiration
In order to start creating my map, I had searched the internet for some inspiration to help guide my work. The first map I came across utilized Google App Engine. The creator of this map made a visualization of both subway stations and subway lines. It was really helpful to view this visualization and to be able to see how subway stations and lines are connected all throughout NYC. I really liked how the creator used subway icons to represent the subway stations located in NYC. The only issue I have with using this icon to identify points is the fact that these icons are quite big and can take up a lot of space. It would be slightly better if the creator had used smaller icons or different ones.
The next visualization that I gained inspiration from was a map that came from Baruch’s Newman Library(Newman, 2019). This visualization showed only the subway stops that are located around NYC. I liked how the Newman library used red points to indicate where the NYC subway stops are. This color decision made it easier to view the stops while also being able to view a number of information like street names, tunnel names, park names, etc.
Materials & Process
In order to build my richly detailed visualization, I had scoured a number of dataset websites. I landed on NYC Open Data and I was able to find three separate data sets that I had utilized. The datasets I found were as follows; Subway Stations, Borough Boundaries and, 2010 Neighborhood Tabulation Areas.
After these datasets were found I was able to download the geospatial data as GeoJSON files. I found that downloading them in this format was the easiest when importing them into CARTO which was the software that I used to create my visualization. I had chosen CARTO over Tableau because I wanted to learn more about this visualization software whereas I have had experience using Tableau before.
In order to create my map, I had to import the GeoJSON files I had downloaded to my computer. The files were then uploaded into the CARTO data warehouse. CARTO allows you to make connections which the data you uploaded into the data warehouse. Once adding the sources to the map I was creating, I was able to get to work in CARTO Builder. Here I was able to arrange the layers of the data I imported with ease.
Color
Using color is a very important part of creating visualizations. Colors can either aid someone in understanding a map or take away from that understanding. I decided to use CARTO’s Dark Matter as the base map so the colors I would utilize for the data points would pop out. In order to see the neighborhoods in NYC, I had utilized CARTO’s 5 colors, color palette to account for the 5 boroughs we have in NYC. The colors do not have any particular significance but they provided a good contrast against the dark background. In order to view the neighborhood areas better, I also added a light stroke around each of those areas. I also decided to lower the opacity of these neighborhood areas to help view the borough divisions more clearly. In order to view the boroughs comprehensibly, I did not utilize a fill color, here I depended on stroke specifically to see where the boroughs divide. I tried to use a neutral color that was not part of the previous color palette. For the subway station location points, I went for a light blue color to ensure that there was enough contrast. I added a light stroke around the points to help support that contrast.
Results & Interpretation
I was thrilled with the end result. With the map that I had created, I was able to notice where the majority of the subway stations were. Staten Island had no subway stations because they have no subway lines that run there. Brooklyn had the most subway stations followed by Manhattan, Queens, and then the Bronx. It is also interesting to see that the neighborhoods in Queens that are closer to Long Island seem to have a lack of subway lines that run there. This may be as a result of there not being a need for a subway station there. Long Island has its own transit system which is called the Long Island Railroad. Besides the Long Island Railroad, everyone in Long Island seems to have a car that they get around in.
This map is very helpful in helping me locate subway stations depending on where I am in NYC. Having an idea of where these subway stations are in NYC can create a stress-free environment for getting around, this way I can focus on the amazing experiences the subway allows me to have.
Reflection
Creating this visualization made me realize how lucky we are to live in a city that has this robust of a subway system. For under 3 dollars, you can get to almost anywhere you would like in the city using this method of transportation. I am grateful every day that I am able to go to class without having to deal with the nightmares of NYC car traffic.
This time, I wanted to focus specifically on the locations of these subway stations and the neighborhoods they are in. Future directions for this project would be to include the subway lines that connect to all these subway stations. The color choices for the future directions would be quite different than the choices I had made for this visualization. For future directions, I would like to connect the subway stations by the color of the subway lines.
References
2010 Neighborhood Tabulation Areas (NTAs). (2013, January 29). Retrieved from https://data.cityofnewyork.us/City-Government/2010-Neighborhood-Tabulation-Areas-NTAs-/cpf4-rkhq
Borough Boundaries. (2013, January 29). Retrieved from https://data.cityofnewyork.us/City-Government/Borough-Boundaries/tqmj-j8zm
History.com, E. (2009, November 24). New York City Subway Opens. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/new-york-city-subway-opens
Newman, L. (2019, May). New York City Subway Stops, May 2019 – Digital Maps and Geospatial Data. Retrieved from https://maps.princeton.edu/catalog/nyu-2451-60068
Qwiklabs. (n.d.). Mapping the NYC Subway. Retrieved from https://www.qwiklabs.com/focuses/673?locale=ko&parent=catalog
Subway Stations. (2013, April 10). Retrieved from https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Transportation/Subway-Stations/arq3-7z49