Manhattan, a forest before a crystal jungle
15/10/2015.
[NYC] USA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA.
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA.
Manhattan, the island full of skyscrapers that we know today, was filled with forests in 1609. Thanks to Welikia Project map now we can explore that part of the history of the natural ecology of The Big Apple.
Welikia Project. Manhattan's map nowadays. Screenshot of Welikia Project. Image courtesy of WCS.
Welikia Project. Manhattan's map in 1609. Screenshot of Welikia Project. Image courtesy of WCS.
Welikia Project. Comparison of Dowtown Manhattan area in 1609 and nowadays. Screenshot of Welikia Project. Image courtesy of WCS.
Welikia Project. Comparison of Central Park area in 1609 and nowadays. Screenshot of Welikia Project. Image courtesy of WCS.
Welikia Project. Screenshot of Welikia Project. Image courtesy of WCS.
Welikia Project. Manhattan in 1609 and nowadays. Image courtesy of WCS.
Welikia Project. The result of five years of historical map research, fieldwork, and GIS analysis, the Digital Elevation Model, or DEM, of 1609 was a vital step in the process of recreating Mannahatta. ©WCS.
Welikia Project. This image illustrates the differences in the island's elevation between 1609 and today. Grays and blacks indicate increases in elevation, mainly waterways that have been filled in, while browns indicate decreases in elevation, such as leveling hills for construction.©WCS.
Welikia Project. Mannahatta had 55 different ecological communities, including terrestrial communities (like forests and grasslands), wetland, pond and stream communities, and estuarine communities in the surrounding waters.©WCS.
Welikia Project.This Muir Web shows all the habitat relationships for all the species on Mannahatta. Visualization by Chris Harrison of Carnegie-Mellon University. ©WCS.
Welikia Project. Manhattan's map in 1609. Screenshot of Welikia Project. Image courtesy of WCS.
Welikia Project. Manhattan in 1609 and nowadays. Image courtesy of WCS.
The objective of Welikia Project is show something new in a place so well known as New York, and with this discovery improve our way of life, reconsidering our impact on the planet.
The map allows to compare the situation of the city over time and at its current status, making it possible to relate it even with the existing urban grid. By selecting a particular neighborhood or building many more data, including information on the type of vegetation and animals in the seventeenth century had obtained. You can also see how the natural landscape of valleys, hills and forests becomes the current urban landscape, where have been replaced by asphalt, concrete and skyscrapers.
By selecting a particular neighborhood or building many more data become available, including information about the type of vegetation and animals that existed in the seventeenth century. You can also see how the natural landscape of valleys, hills and forests becomes the current urban landscape, where it has been replaced by asphalt, concrete and skyscrapers.
The project has followed the science of landscape ecology to create the map, it is the study of how different ecosystems combine together to create habitat for plants and animals.
The Welikia Project recreates layer by layer the original landscape ecology of New York City, from its geology and topography to the wildlife of the island. Information has been gathered from many different sources, using GIS systems to georeference information and concentrate it on one single map. Although this method of work is currently widely used, the difference in this case is that the layers of information did not exist previously.
This continues Mannahatta Project, developed between 1999 and 2009 by Wildlife Conservation Society, which explores the natural ecology of Manhattan. The Welikia Project, carried out between 2013 and 2015, added the boroughs of The Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island, giving an overall image of the original natural landscape of the whole city of New York, and comparing it to its current state.
400 years after Hudson found New York harbor, Eric Sanderson shares how he made a 3D map of Mannahatta's fascinating pre-city ecology of hills, rivers, wildlife — accurate down to the block — when Times Square was a wetland and you couldn't get delivery.
Want to give it a try? Explore the Welikia Project map here >>>
