The metropolitan area surrounding San Francisco Bay, better known as the Bay Area, includes over 100 cities (San Francisco, Oakland and San José being among the most populous) and counts about 7 million people. It is the 4th-largest metropolitan area in the US and the 47th-largest in the world.
Many non-locals will be surprised to learn that San José is the largest city in the Bay Area (having surpassed San Francisco in the 1980s). Another lesser-known fact is that a map of the entire Bay Area can be created using nothing more than two functioning, interlocking hands (preferably your own).
This ‘Handy Map of San Francisco’ does not say why or whether it is absolutely necessary to paint your right thumbnail black to create the effect of San Francisco.
Many thanks to Adam Koford for sending in this map, found in a 1938 Cartoon Guide to California by Reg Manning.
I just wanted to stop in and say how much I have appreciated your maps. For many years, maps were integral tools while I trucked goods and servies across the US. I love maps. So much more personal than a GOS rendering from Google.
Thanks.
Comment by MRMacrum — September 23, 2008 @ 1:17 pm
That black thumbnail must the represent the immoral city to some conservative cartographer elsewhere.
Comment by Huntington — September 23, 2008 @ 1:32 pm
Being from Michigan, I can appreciate this approach, since we also have a “handy map” of half the state. I’m trying to find if anyone’s made a similar map in print using a hand as a reference. If not, I might try my hand at it (pun intended) just to see how it goes.
For the interested (you know you are), we can also (mostly) represent the Upper Peninsula using our left hand, forming a nearly-complete map fairly easily. The only portions that suffer are Isle Royale (impossible to represent an island) and the southern portion leading to Menominee (which ends up too far east and at the wrong angle). Of course, it’s not a perfect representation of the shoreline contours, but then, neither is the right hand as a map of the Lower Peninsula.
In a bit of Googling, the closest I’ve been able to find is this fantastic idea for taking a Michigan map with you: http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/newsnow/2008/01/couple_banks_on_obvious_maps_o.html
As a side note, you might be interested to see how Google Analytics sees Michigan: http://www.straightupsearch.com/archives/2008/08/cmon_google_len_1.html. Presumably, they’re using only political boundaries, rather than water boundaries, just in case you get a hit from a freighter in the middle of Lake Superior.
Comment by Marty Alchin — September 23, 2008 @ 1:55 pm
nice illustration! this morning i wrote a post about The Fire in San Francisco
http://anti-chambre.net/users/jerome/none/2008/09/1906-flying-steampunk/
i also came across this nice map of london:
http://www.amandinealessandra.com/cumulus/?p=315
Comment by jrgd — September 23, 2008 @ 2:47 pm
My guess is that the blacked-out thumbnail is meant to suggest that the entire nail is SF.
Comment by Warren — September 23, 2008 @ 4:03 pm
[...] Strangemaps and found by Adam [...]
Pingback by A Handy Map of San Francisco | Sketchblog — September 23, 2008 @ 4:35 pm
Bonus: Monterey Bay would be the indentation created where the right hand meets the wrist (i.e. where the artist Reg has signed his name)
Comment by jyee — September 23, 2008 @ 5:31 pm
Ditto from the Michiganders’ point of view: old news, and a nasty habit of ours.
Comment by Marc Naimark — September 23, 2008 @ 5:37 pm
resident of oakland here; that is insanely clever.
Comment by diembe — September 23, 2008 @ 6:04 pm
Kind of like a hand fart, with hippies.
Comment by Cappy — September 23, 2008 @ 7:47 pm
I have used my own hand a number of times to illustrate various locations around my own state of Washington. Tucking my right hand into a fist with just my nail tucked into my index finger and turned palm down makes a very nice representation of the whole state. The fold between the thumb and finger represents the puget sound, the top of the thumb: the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the wristline the Columbia river valley. I don’t know if this has ever been reprented online, but I find it useful.
Comment by theguth — September 23, 2008 @ 8:34 pm
Berkeley native and loving it. I’d like to point out though that San Jose is almost never spelled with the acute accent, if only to distinguish it from the one in Costa Rica.
Comment by Aaron — September 23, 2008 @ 9:05 pm
When I was in New York a lovely woman showed me how to make a map of Texas using your hand. You just can’t do that with places in the UK. It’s a shame: I think it’s great.
Comment by Sven — September 23, 2008 @ 9:43 pm
You can’t make a map of Saskatchewan with your hand, but then again you don’t need to.
Comment by Charlene — September 23, 2008 @ 10:39 pm
Michigan oven mitt: http://hbcornerstore.stores.yahoo.net/micovmit.html
I have something similar from about 13 years ago, picked up at a gift shop in Ann Arbor.
Comment by Nat Case — September 23, 2008 @ 10:53 pm
A friend from West Virginia once showed me their state’s version of the hand map. Take your right hand in a fist; extend your thumb; and raise your middle finger. It works pretty well, but one can understand why it hasn’t caught on. Best not to offer directions to strangers with that particular handy map.
Comment by John — September 24, 2008 @ 1:01 am
great map on WSJ.com. check it out.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122211987961064719.html?mod=article-outset-box
Comment by jp — September 24, 2008 @ 1:37 am
nice to have you back!
Great map by the way
Comment by Björn — September 24, 2008 @ 9:44 am
Unbeleivable, Great Creation, Thanks
Comment by San Francisco City Guide — September 24, 2008 @ 11:02 am
That’s not accurate… the San Francisco metropolitan area is actually the twelfth largest in the US, and it doesn’t include San Jose. There isn’t even a continuous stretch of urbanized area between SF and San Jose. And if you wanted to use a looser definition of “metropolitan area” than the official one, it’d still be smaller than NY, LA, Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Atlanta, Washington, Houston, and Dallas, making it at best the tenth largest.
The bay area is wonderful, but part of its wonder has something to do with the fact that it just doesn’t have that many people– it’s not overly dense, and if you have a lot of natural areas and don’t have density… you can’t have a lot of people.
Glad to have you back!
Comment by Stickler — September 24, 2008 @ 3:12 pm
What happened to Alameda?
Comment by Sebastian Clarke — September 24, 2008 @ 5:11 pm
Coooollllll…..
Comment by mcloide — September 24, 2008 @ 7:00 pm
jyee: Reg’s signature is more like Point Año Nuevo; Monterey Bay is much bigger than that!
Comment by Anton Sherwood — September 24, 2008 @ 8:19 pm
Is it just me, or do those thumbs look like they’re texting? Might be because of the proximity of Silicon Valley …
Comment by David Kendall — September 24, 2008 @ 9:42 pm
It doesn’t work if you, like I, have overly long fingers.
Comment by Lurker — September 24, 2008 @ 11:43 pm
You can show Long Island, New York, by making a peace sign and holding your hand sideways (more or less)
Comment by Jeremy — September 25, 2008 @ 12:05 am
Brief quibble; the “e” in San Jose doesn’t have an accent.
Comment by Will Duquette — September 25, 2008 @ 9:23 am
Stickler wrote: “There isn’t even a continuous stretch of urbanized area between SF and San Jose.”
Sure there is. Try driving up US 101 from San Jose to San Francisco, or check it out on Google Maps. Urban the whole way.
Comment by Steve Premo — September 25, 2008 @ 5:27 pm
Wonderful map! I’m proud to be in Santa Rosa, just next to the left knuckle.
And welcome back!
Comment by Iolanthe — September 25, 2008 @ 7:53 pm
Those hands have short thumbs…
Comment by haveacupoftea — September 28, 2008 @ 10:07 am
And adding on to #28: um, how about the East Bay? Fremont to Berkeley along the 880 corridor?
Part of the charm of the Bay Area is dense urban areas surrounded by protected open space. Thank goodness space was saved, else this place would look like LA.
Comment by Liz — September 29, 2008 @ 3:15 pm
Correct; the east bay corridor is urban the whole way as well. It is nice having protected open space, which I attribute to having more hills than in LA, and therefore less easily developable land.
Still, from my point of view as a long-time resident of Santa Cruz who grew up in the LA metropolitan area, I think that the Bay Area looks a lot like LA. No offense.
Comment by Steve Premo — September 29, 2008 @ 9:00 pm
>the San Francisco metropolitan area is actually the twelfth largest in the US, and it doesn’t include San Jose.
Depends on your definition of metro area. By MSA, you’d be correct at 12th, but it seems this might be referring to urban area as defined by Demographia, which has the Bay Area 4th in the US (behind NYC, LA and Chicago).
Comment by Austin — September 30, 2008 @ 6:22 am
i like San franciso, your site is very great. greetz from germany
Comment by handy angebot — October 2, 2008 @ 8:16 am
very good very nice and interesting
tankx !
Comment by istgah — October 4, 2008 @ 7:17 am
very good very nice and interesting
tankx ! ok
Comment by istgah — October 4, 2008 @ 7:19 am
Good map of a city by a body of water.
Comment by yojoe — October 10, 2008 @ 2:55 am
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Pingback by Strange Maps « Man of the Bridge — November 21, 2008 @ 5:32 pm
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Pingback by Back from the Wrong Coast « Visualingual — January 2, 2009 @ 3:20 pm
That’s an awesome map!
Check out my book about SF at http://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Photo-Opportunities-San-Francisco/dp/1598638009
Comment by Matt Bamberg — January 22, 2009 @ 5:22 am
thanks for this map
good
luck
….
Comment by Solomon — May 11, 2009 @ 9:02 am
Vielen Dank
Comment by moon — July 3, 2009 @ 5:27 am
Muchas gracias
Comment by sun — July 4, 2009 @ 7:50 am