Cool Map Shows L.A. Streets Color Coded By Compass Orientation

Here's a cool map that shows another way to view Los Angeles' streets. This map is color-coded by cardinal direction.

Coming from artist/scientist Stephen Von Worley's blog Data Pointed, the map gives each street segment a different color based on its compass orientation and the orientation of nearby streets. This makes streets that run perpendicular and parallel to each other the same color, as seen in Central L.A. This also make streets like those found in the Hollywood Hills a trippy rainbow.

If you want to delve deep into why Los Angeles has a number of grids that seem at odds with one another, L.A. history buff Nathan Masters explores how the streets came to be on KCET here. It begins with a Spanish outpost meant to be angled at 45 degrees Northeast (but slightly amiss due to the L.A. River), followed by American stubbornness after they conquered and took over the region. You can still mostly see the square outline of the original pueblo around downtown. Overall Los Angeles has a pretty strict grid when you compare it to European cities like London and Paris.

Check out the map for yourself here.