Constantine Anderson's Axonometric Projection of Manhattan

[adamburton]

Hello,

I came across this forum in my efforts to find a place that I might be able to buy Constantine Anderson's Axonometric Projection of Midtown Manhattan. This site came up due to this post - http://forums.wirednewyork.com/viewt...;view=previous - which might not actually work but that is the only way that I can figure out how to link to it.

My apologies if there is no point in me using this forum to ask this question, it is just that I have been searching the web for hours trying to find some kind of online map shop that sells this particular one.

It is a beautifully constructed drawing of Midtown Manhattan in 3D and I would really like to get a copy of it. I just thought I would ask here just in case anyone has any ideas. I am from England you see and I probably will not be able to find it in my local map shop, you know.

Thank you very much for your help.
regards

Adam Burton

[ZippyTheChimp]

The only worthwhile information I got was a list of resources on this page:

http://www.vanalen.org/workshops/eas...l/resource.htm

It lists Constantine Anderson's map and The Manhattan Map Company.

I could not locate a website for the Manhattan Map Company, but their address and telephone number are on this site:

http://www.citidex.com/554.htm

Good luck.

[NYatKNIGHT]

Now I want to see this drawing. Where have you seen it Adam?

[Merry]

I have a copy of the axonometric map of Midtown Manhattan by the Manhattan Map Company. I got it from the New York Bound Bookshop, which is sadly no longer extant. This map was produced in 1991 so it may be difficult to get now. Apart from the colours used (sickly pink), I've found it an excellent resource for identifying buildings.

[adamburton]

Thank you very much for the address, I will figure out how to write to them and find out more about it.

The only place that I have seen the map is in the book Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte - http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_ei - which is a kind of graphic design theory manual. It has a detail of the map in it. The same detail can be found here - http://users.rcn.com/mackey/thesis/andersen.html - but it is a very bad gif image of the original.

If you are interested I have found a couple of other maps during my search for Constantine Anderson's one. They are both very similar, however they do not have the same qualities that I enjoy about Constantine Anderson's:

Birds Eye Map of Midtown Manhattan: (if anyone knows where I can buy this I would be grateful, it does not say on the site)

http://www.birdseye-map.com/base02e.html

Ludington Ltd: (do not like this one very much, but still quite nice)
http://www.mapposter.com/mpmidmanhfs.html

I will continue searching on the Internet but as you say Merry, it is quite old so I doubt I will be able to find it new.

Any other information would be really useful though. Thank you everyone.

Adam

[adamburton]

I have also now found this which I think is the version that you are refferring to Merry:

http://www.panorama-map.com/Othernor...mapco1000.html

The one that I am after is very similar, no sickly pink though, just black and white but with green and blue areas for the parks. I am still searching... :shock:

[NYatKNIGHT]

Oh, THAT drawing. Yes, I know I've seen the pink one in bookstores, and maybe some of the others, but not recently. I'll look in some local bookstores, and probably get one myself if they aren't too outdated. Will let you know, thanks.

[TLOZ Link5]

They look very outdated, if you ask me. 1993-95, perhaps?

[Merry]

I have also now found this which I think is the version that you are refferring to Merry:

http://www.panorama-map.com/Othernor...mapco1000.html

The one that I am after is very similar, no sickly pink though, just black and white but with green and blue areas for the parks. I am still searching... :shock:

Yes, Adam, that's the one I have.

[adamburton]

Hello. Thank you to everyone who helped me with information about the map. A few months ago I went to the Design Museum in London where they were having an exhibition about the display of information in all of it's forms and I came across a map that was very similar to Constantine Anderson's.

It is by Hermann Bollmann and is quite beautiful. I cannot however find any information about it on the web. Sorry. I thought that if I typed in the preface of the map then it might help other people to find information about it. There were many copies available in the Design Museum bookshop so I presume that it is still in print. If anyone does find information about where to purchase it then please post it here at the forum.

---

ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE AND THE ARTIST

This pictur map, or bird's-eye-view, of New York is the first such map to be drawn of the city since 1866. Although little reference information is available, it is believed the technique was used in Eupope as early as the 15th Century; and it is further believed that this type of cartography was fully developed as an art form, called Vogelschaukarten, by German artists in the middle of the late 19th Century.
Obviously the problems faced by these earlier artists cannot be compared with the difficulties encountered creating this map of New York City. The artist, logically enough, is Hermann Bollmann of Braunschweig, Germany. Before World War II he was a well known woodcarver and an engraver. Since 1948 he has drawn more than sixty similar maps of European cities.
For this map of New York his staff had design and built special cameras. They have taken 67 000 individual photographs of the city, 17 000 of these from the air. To solve the problem of skyscrapers and concentration of building, Bollmann has used several unique devices which remain his secret. Further he has achieved a perspective which gives full effect to the soaring beauty of the City. The map is drawn with exact accuracy to the smallest detail. And in this age of automation, Bollmann's cameras are his only compromise with the present. All the actual drawing is done by hand. Today, Bollmann is able to publish maps of complete districts in his style.

---

All other possibly relevant information written on the map or in the booklet provided is in German and so completely lost on me. Also, I peeled off the sticker that had the barcode, and possibly the ISBN, on it, which may have provided some further information. It is now in a landfill somewhere outside of Bath, England. Sorry.
The only other relevant information that I can provide is the name of the company that produces the maps:

BOLLMANN - BILDKARTEN - VERLAG
GMBH & CO KG
BRAUNSCHWEIG - GERMANY

This is written on the back of the map booklet.

I hope that this information is useful to someone.

Regards,
Adam Burton.

[guydickinson]

Hi Adam, I went to the same exhibition and saw the maps you're talking about, but forgot to buy one. I just got off the phone with the Design Museum, and the helpful guy gave me their website: http://www.bollmann-bildkarten.de/

It's in german, but with the help of google translation, you can buy frameable versions of the new york (and loads of other cities) for 12euros.

there's no online purchasing, but I've just sent an english email, as the lady I spoke to speak great english (as all germans tend to :-)

J

[beatriz]

Hello, Adam.

I think you can find Bollman's 3-D map of New York at

http://www.omnimap.com/catalog/access/satellit.htm
"3-D or Bird's-Eye View" Posters. These maps show the city streets and include artists renditions of each building along the street. We are now stocking the well-known series of these "3-dimensional" city street plans by Bollmann-Bildkarten-Verlag of Germany as well as a new series for Poland. Also included are the Ludington "axonometric" bird's-eye view maps of several US cities. These are quite attractive maps. The BBV maps are available flat only; the Polish cities are available folded only.
3-D Bird's-Eye Views from Bollman-Bildkarten-Verlag.
62-84922NY New York. #40. $19.95

Also found an axonometric map of NY Downtown (that's not included in my 1985 version of Anderson's Map of Midtown Manhattan):

Manhattan, New York Downtown, flat, 35" x 23"
Poster map of downtown New York City drawn in the axonometric view. Buildings appear to rise toward the sky. Axonometric is a method of projection in which buildings are drawn with their horizontal and vertical axes to scale but with curved lines and diagonals distorted.
Retail Price: $19.95 Web Special: $9.98 each
ML CODE: LUD MAN DOWN ISBN#: 0783426194
http://catalog.maplink.com/maplink/m...ials_misc.html



HTH.
Beatriz
(in Sao Paulo, Brazil)

[andyschest]

I found another similar map:
Hagstrom Midtown 3-D Manhattan: Axonometric (Map) ISBN: 0880978317. Thay have it at Amazon and it looks like quite a recent print.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/088...lance&n=283155

[glutringer]

I came across the post by adamburton on 5/29/05 regarding the map of NYC that Herman Bollman created in 1964 for the NY World's Fair and wanted to let any interested party know that I recently inherited one of these maps and have it listed on Ebay (Item #7413698964). Thank you.