We know it's the day after Thursday but let's reminisce a bit — tell us what you were doing all the way back in middle school. Obsessing over New Kids? Being an angsty rude boy? Crafting dream maps of subway systems in cities that have none? If you answered yes to that last one, then your name must be Ivan Specht, eighth grader cartographer extraordinaire. Specht took a Father's Day gift of a proposed Austin subway map and ran with the idea all the way to New Orleans, where he shirks our below sea level status and dreams of a comprehensive public transit system under the city.
Urban Omnibus caught up with Specht, who had yet to visit New Orleans when he began mapping our pie in the sky subway system. Specht was reportedly thrilled to put subway stop to actual place when he came to the Crescent City and — again, despite the city reaching as much as eight feet below sea level — could totally see a subway system in our future. He's got visions of public transit for San Antonio, Quebec, and even Nuuk, Greenland because Greelanders have a funny way with naming things and Specht's just like any other teenage boy amused by foreign words.
· Subway Maps for Cities without Subways [Urban Omnibus]
· Cool Map Thing [Curbed NOLA]