New York's Shrinking Rivers

The Changing Shoreline of New York City uses historical maps, from the New York Public Library’s collection, to explore how Manhattan has physically grown in size during its brief history. This fascinating look at the changing landscape of New York was created by Laura Blaszczak during her internship at the New York Public Library.

As you scroll through this impressive story map historical maps are used to show how Manhattan's many rivers, creeks, brooks and bays have been managed or even built over. These historical maps are overlaid on top of a modern map of New York. Each has an opacity control that allows you to directly compare the historical with the modern map of the city to illustrate how Manhattan's landscape has changed.

BTW - I really like the button (which appears on this map when you view it on a mobile device) that allows you to switch the browser's focus between the map and the scrolling content. This appears to have been achieved by adding and removing the user's ability to pan the map by creating a simple toggle map panning function.