A Wonderful Day in the Neighborhood...

August 10, 2009 11:19 AM

Anybody know of a way to get a map that shows neighborhoods instead of just street names? If it helps, I'm looking for the 30062 area code...
posted by richmondparker to grab bag (11 comments total)

Do you mean with the neighborhoods named? Googling "30062" gets you a general map.
posted by small_ruminant at 11:23 AM on August 10

Google Maps actually shows neighborhood names if you zoom out far enough. The default view I got when I input your zip code shows "Sandy Plains" and "Blackwells" as neighborhoods within Marietta.
posted by sjuhawk31 at 11:24 AM on August 10

Some advice that might help you refine your approach, and def. not to discourage your inquiry... but it's important to note that neighborhoods are often 1.) vernacular constructs used by locals for wayfinding, but are also often (and "maddeningly", "confusingly") used as 2.) official (aldermanic or otherwise) place designations by municipalities.

For example, in my town of St. Louis, Missouri, here are the city-designated neighborhoods. You'll not see any place named "Dogtown", despite the fact that any local here could direct you there. You will see a place called "Franz Park" (and tons of other places), which NOBODY will have ever heard of, ever. There are a bunch of ways to split such things, I'm sure you can imagine.

So, to shape your approach it may be useful to figure out if your application requires "the 'real', quasi-official neighborhood names", or "the things the people there call them".
posted by jjjjjjjijjjjjjj at 11:53 AM on August 10

Thanks for the qualification....I should note that I'm actually trying to find a list of SUBDIVISIONS in our area. I've tried a couple of local realtors, thinking that they might have that kind of information, but haven't had any luck so far...
posted by richmondparker at 12:01 PM on August 10

One (perhaps tedious and not comprehensive) way to try this would be to use a real estate listing/mapping service like Redfin.com, get the map of the area you wanted, and then explore the listings in the various subdivisions. In many cases, realtors will list the subdivision in their description ("...in desireable Deer Used to Live Here Estates!").

This will allow you to put together your own map (you could use google maps for this, put a pin in each subdivision and record the info you discover above).
posted by maxwelton at 12:09 PM on August 10 [1 favorite]

I hope for your sake that I'm wrong in this case, but playing the odds: Barring some miraculous find it'd be difficult for a layman to find that information online.

These people (Cobb County GIS) do have the information you want, and if you find the right person and sweet talk him or her in the right way, I bet they'd share it. I've had refreshingly helpful assistance in similar projects from state-gov't-level GIS folks in the past.
posted by jjjjjjjijjjjjjj at 12:12 PM on August 10

A caveat about real estate listings: in a case where a "good" neighborhood is adjacent to a "bad" one, the real estate listings will show the "good" neighborhood as being larger than it actually is in the minds of most people who aren't trying to sell something. This is definitely an issue when looking for a place in Philadelphia, for example. In places which were actually subdivided by developers fairly recently, the borders between neighborhoods/subdivisions might be more clear.
posted by madcaptenor at 2:48 PM on August 10

I found this link for you, using the search terms "cobb county plats map":

http://www.cobbgis.org:81/imf/imf.jsp?site=public

Using the options on the right side, I expanded "Parcels", and checked "Subdivisions" (click on the red box).

The result is pretty messy. (Who thought light blue would be a good color for the labels???) But, it looks like it has the info you want, if you can stand to look at it long enough.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 3:09 PM on August 10 [1 favorite]

I've found that Yahoo maps generally labels neighborhoods better than Google.
posted by baserunner73 at 11:20 PM on August 10

ArcIMS and clones won't work on (my) Firefox (and, let's be honest, barely works with any browser), so I can't check it out. But if SuperSquirrel's plats map does what it says on the tin -- as it appears that it does -- then 1.) It more than satisfies my conditions for "miraculous find" as stated earlier, and, 2.) you owe her a drink/handshake/hearty thanks.

(Nice find).
posted by jjjjjjjijjjjjjj at 7:54 AM on August 11

Not too miraculous, j... My husband is a civil engineer (who talks at great length about his work - ::rolls eyes::). He has to register every subdivision he designs with the county. The plans he submits are called plats. Just have to know the vocabulary, I guess. It is public information, but you're right, to find it online - in an easily usable form - is still pretty rare, but probably getting more common as municipalities put more and more of their everyday business online.

Another thought I just had for the OP: check with the school district(s) in the area you're interested in. Ask to talk to their transportation department, and see if you can be put in touch with whoever plans their bus routes for the year. One of the criteria they use to plan bus routes (at least in my town) is by subdivision name, so this person may have a good working map they could copy for you. Also, there may be a map with subdivision names floating around a school zoning office, to easily determine if a particular address is within school boundaries.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 8:30 AM on August 11