As the authors of this October 2018 article point out, not too many years ago, the maps we used for planning driving routes were the large fold-out kind that gave us the bigger picture and "connected us to the places" we were traveling to and through. Reminiscent of that once common birds' eye view, The New York Times published "A Map of Every Building in America." This interactive map and its accompanying text were created by Tim Wallace, Derek Watkins, and John Schwartz, who used a large database of building footprints in all 50 US states that Microsoft released to the public earlier this year. Here, readers can explore "the built legacy of the United States" by typing any US city or ZIP code into the map's search bar. To reach a more specific view, users can drag the map and click or tap the on-screen zoom tools. Below the interactive map, the authors highlight seven views that exemplify "what the map reveals about the structures that surround us," such as "The Imprint of Geology" in Appalachia and "A Nation of Suburbs" in Mesa, Arizona.
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