The Los Angeles Times unveiled an interactive map of Los Angeles today. This Google Maps mashup of the city’s neighborhoods is meant to provide a localized portal to local news and community information such as schools, income, and demographics. The site is a work in progress with plans to add restaurant reviews, points of interest and crime statistics in the coming weeks.
Defining neighborhood boundaries for the map became a controversial and protracted exercise since the initial map was previewed in February. The Times staff indicates that they received more than 1,5000 comments, and made more 100 neighborhood boundary changes as a result of the feedback. This exhaustive neighborhood delineation effort will also serve as a “geographic bible” for describing neighborhoods in stories.
