Landlocked Map

I've always started maps by making waterways of ink, but while flying out for Thanksgiving last week I tried inventing a completely land-locked city. It was inspired by an enormous and spontaneous map I did recently on a friend's wall-sized whiteboard. I started with five city centers and drew around them to create individual dense cities, then connected the cities more loosely. A lot of the drawing was done on planes, which also provided some inspiration.

(Wouldn't it be cool to do a nighttime map on black paper?)

Flying over midtown Manhattan, I was pretty touched by how much my maps owe to New York's geography. I don't usually think about it, but obviously growing up there does explain my innate conception of city aesthetics.