How the Map Works

There are 1500 works of art shown on the map.
Artwork that is in public spaces (or visible from them, such as work in lobbies) made the cut. Also on the list are works commissioned by public entities. Only permanent artwork is illustrated. For obvious reasons, ephemeral artwork is not included, but rather the art spaces where temporary exhibitions usually exist. Since these art exhibitions are constantly changing, there is no guarantee that a space will have artwork at any given time.

Artwork is into categories by the type of work it is or its medium. Art in the landscape is green, three-dimensional works are blue, two- dimensional works are purple, and architectural is brown. Because of the nature of the categories, some works fell into more than one and were assigned its most representative category.

The artwork is organized in two ways: on the front, it is arranged alphabetically by artist. The image is color keyed by type of work and accessibility. Work in public transit, for instance, is red. If the access is limited, such as work in public schools or government buildings, the image is grey with a colored dash symbolizing the type of work it is. To locate the work, each is assigned a key number, the first being a numerical number and second, a map coordinate.
Where the artist is unknown (to us anyway) the work is at the end.

On the back, the artwork is organized geographically starting from downtown on the left and working its way up to Upper Manhattan on the right. Art-rich areas are enlarged on the bottom of the map.

Collections are indicated on the front of the map by name, with the exception of non-profit galleries, which are numbered. In addition to museums, there are other public collections such as universities, restaurants, churches, and hospitals.