SITE
The site that I am observing for this project is located in Santa Monica, California. More specifically, the cross streets are Lincoln Boulevard and Broadway. There are numerous businesses, housing complexes and construction taking place on any given day, and the diversity of people is infinite. There are tourists coming from out of country, but also residents from down the street that populate the area and make it thrive. There is a historical Quonset hut from WWII that has been turned into a burger joint.
TRAFFIC + TRANSPORTATION
Broadway has one lane per way, and is the street that goes directly towards the Third Street Promenade. There are tons of meters, parking structures, biking lanes, and cars that occupy the area. I would say that Santa Monica is one of the most bike-friendly cities in the Los Angeles area because of the dedicated lanes. There is also the Metro light rail that connects Santa Monica with DTLA and other major areas.
RESTAURANTS + SHOPPING
Standing at the intersection, there are more than fifteen businesses in view. From restaurants, to grocery stores, to deli shops, to coffee shops, there is a lot of activity from residents and people who work in the area. There is also a museum and public library in walking distance, which attracts people of all ages.
VEGETATION , RECREATION AREAS + PARKS
There are at least three parks within a couple blocks in which people play basketball, soccer or just relax. The beach is also within ten blocks west which attracts people of all backgrounds. You’ll find bikers, volleyball players and performers looking for activities to be a part of. Tongva Park, which is adjacent from the Santa Monica Pier, has an overlook bridge in which you can capture images of the ocean, skateboard, or take part in an acroyoga group twice a week. The pier is somewhat of a small amusement park full of games and rollercoaster rides.
HISTORY + MUSEUMS
As mentioned previously, there are landmarks from WWII as well as other historical landmarks. There is the Santa Monica History Museum, located within the public library, and the Santa Monica Pier Museum located off of the famous pier and visitor’s center.
FORCE MAPS
Force 1: Restaurants
Force 2: Parks
Force 3: Public Transportation
Force 4: Entertainment
Force 5: Art & History
Final Map:
Hello Alexa. Sorry this post is a bit late. But it could be beneficial still. I like the different approach you took about the shape of your map. It’s different and can help a viewer to have a frame of mind different than most square maps. Is like you are helping the viewer focus, zooming in an area of attention. It is a clean design and you brought out the forces clearly. I think that a better differentiation in color between the bus stops and the Parks will be helpful. Similarly, the traffic intersections, I don’t know what these represent in reference to the selected forces. It could be me thought ?
Alexa,
Color choice is super important, and for the most part, you nailed it. I really like the dark grey as the base of the map with white for the roads and just simple blue for the ocean. That being said, on your transportation map, the light rail stands out, but the bus stops are basically invisible with both the size of the icon and the color that blends the white with the grey.
Also on your restaurants map, i’m not actually sure what the colors mean at all, whats the difference between brown and beige? What are the red dots? A simple legend would solve that. Also on that same map, I know its an annoying amount of work, but keeping the buildings distinct, or at least maintaining the roads between blocks would help to eliminate that sort of, “spilled coffee” feeling that I get when i look at it.
Hello Greg,
Thanks for your comment! I agree, I need to find a better way of representing the bus stops… the red does blend in with the other colors. As for the restaurants, I found that there were SO MANY… making it really hard to plot all of them on the map and organize them. Maybe I could have two different icons/colors for what type of food establishment it is, and of course, what those icons mean. As for the two building colors… my map was really weird and didn’t pick up all of the businesses and apartment buildings, so they were traced on different layers. I will combine those into one color so it doesn’t look out of place.
Hey Alexa! Whew Santa Monica is a beast, especially the traffic. What I noticed in downtown SM is that parking is free for the first 90min, but starts scaling rapidly up to $20/25 for more than 5.5hrs on the weekday/weekends. There’s also an insane farmers’ market on Wednesday, two on Saturday in different locations, and one on Sunday from 8am-1pm (not counting vendors setting up at 6am) that block off several blocks, so that’d also be good to keep in mind when you’re talking about traffic transportation.
Another thing I noticed in SM is the heavy prevalence of birds and related motor-ish scooters, could that be a subset of the traffic you’re talking about?
Hello Cindy,
Thanks for your comment! I agree, the farmer’s market is pretty cool/insane… it brings a lot of residents out to shop for groceries and food. I will try to visit on Sunday to check out how it affects traffic, and the prevalence of one over the other. There are a ton of Bird scooters and Uber bikes (more recently), so I think I should include separate icons for each mode. I actually want to differentiate these more specifically; do you think making my map area more zoomed in would help with this?
Hi Alexa, your public transportation force made me wonder how anyone gets around down there. I was curious how transportation interacts with the other forces, and how that’ll play out in your next stage of mapping. I liked the concept of the art and history force but I don’t think I’m quite feeling its impact from this map representation. Curious to hear your internal dialog.
Hi Tara,
Thanks for your comment. I don’t think I did a great job showing different modes of transportation because the map is so large and the icons so small in contrast… I think I will zoom in for the base map so I can show every mode from bike lanes to parking structures to bus stops to the light rail. Also, I agree… the “art and history” force is a little weak. I had an idea of general Santa Monica with its public art, but not a lot of the public works fall under this map. Maybe I can change this to another force?
Hey Alexa, I’m a little confused by the way you laid out your post and how the force maps and summaries aren’t in the same order – when you say entertainment, is that the vegetation, recreation areas, and parks description? It seems like entertainment could really encompass most of your forces except maybe traffic and transportation, unless you’re really into that. It might be helpful to distinguish more between the distinct categories of things you’re looking at.
It’s interesting to see how your forces in Santa Monica differ from mine in DTLA, and how much more outdoor recreational space there is!
Hello Clara,
Thanks for your critiques! I will put the force maps below the headings to make them a bit easier to read and understand. I also can see how you interpret “entertainment” differently, as I was thinking comedy venues and movie theaters for this force. Maybe I can differentiate by using separate icons for each.
I will take a look at your post and see what forces you use, as I’m sure they can relate from both being in the Los Angeles area!
Alexa – I think you have chosen some interesting forces. When comparing the forces, do you find any of them more subtle or more noticeable than the others? I.e. is the traffic and parking more prominent than the different types of business, et cetera. I love that you pointed out that there is a WWII building that has been converted to a burger joint. This is not only fascinating, but I think could maybe reveal some more about the character and history of the area you’ve chosen to study. Another question I have is are you differentiating between vegetation and recreation spaces? If so, how are you deciding which is which? And if not, why? I look forward to seeing your maps and how you show these forces!
Hi Gillian! I actually do find some of these forces different from one block to the next… such as the parks and vegetation. For the most part, these two go hand-in-hand for the area I’m studying, so I will be combining those forces into one. Also, after doing some research on the history of the area, the quonset hut is one of its kind and I may (unfortunately) have to change forces. This area has been remodeled and modernized within the last ten years, so maybe I could differentiate between the old and new developments. Thanks for your comment, I’m realizing now that I may have chosen too large of an area to cover and might have to narrow in on maybe a five block radius!