Urban Experience

This is my mental map of my hometown in New Jersey. After creating my mental map of my town Old Tappan, I was curious to visit my town's website to see if there would be something I could relate to my map to. I found out that the borough of Old Tappan has been around since 1664 which gives it over "300 years of History and Heritage". I realized that my mental map differs from a regular map of my town Old Tappan in more ways than one. Firstly the scale is not correct because specific landmarks are not evenly spaced out. I tried to my best of my drawing ability to map landmarks as accurately as I could from my memory. But in addition, since my town is over 300 years old, the layout of the town must have changed. Landmarks must have been removed and replaced over that long amount of time period. I did some research into my town and there was apparently more land to begin with than there is now. In the beginning around 1664 the town mostly consisted of farm land. However, disputes between the New York and New Jersey divided the land. The settlement of the New York-New Jersey boundary severed Old Tappan from its original connection with Orange County and the colony of New York. That had now made Old Tappan part of the province of New Jersey.

Since my hometown is really small (which I now know why after some researching) I found it easy to recall all the main landmarks that make up my town. Google maps would be a more detailed map of my hometown but I think my mental map is pretty accurate to follow. The main landmarks in my town consists of the Bi-state Plaza where everyone in town shops, the High School, Middle school and Elementary school, the Church, the Police Department, the Fire Department, the Library, and the parks. I included a pizzeria that everyone in town know about so that is landmark that has been socially made.

Below is an image that came up when I searched Old Tappan, NJ in Google maps and it is one of the landmarks that I have included in my mental map. "Bi-State Plaza" is where mostly all the residents in my town go shopping. It is a distinctive landmark that all Old Tappanians will know well and would most likely include in their mental map as well.

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Below is a Google maps image of what my town looks like from an aerial view. The difference is that there are no specific landmarks that make the town personalized. There are only street names and the roads are more accurately drawn. My drawing of my hometown is how I envision it which makes my town special to me.

During the process of this mental mapping I realized that I did not know what exit of the Palisades Parkway I am off of.This is something that I have to look into more thanks to this mental mapping.