The CTA is the local subway system that serves primarily Chicago, but also extends to a few surrounding suburbs, namely Evanston, Oak Park, Forest Park and Skokie. Many sections are elevated above street level, hence the nickname the "El" used by many Chicagoans. Originally built in the late 1800's, the "El" at one time was the world's only electric train system.
The Metra is Chicago's commuter rail system that connects hundreds of suburbs to Chicago. The Metra extends as far north as Kenosha, Wisconsin, west beyond Aurora to Elburn, and South past Joliet to Manhattan.
This map was referenced to create this website, but we applied some artistic license. The following neighborhoods were consolidated under 'Lincoln Park': Lincoln Park, Sheffield Neighbors, Old Town Triangle, Ranch Triangle, Park West, Wrightwood Neighbors, and Lathrop Homes. Lathrop Homes? Exactly. Lake View, Lake View East and Wrigleyville are consolidated under Lake View. South East Ravenswood and Graceland West are consolidated under North Center. Lakewood-Balmoral is included in Andersonville, and finally Magnolia Glen is included in Edgewater Glen.
Wow. We love this map. It shows the commute time from any address in Chicagoland to any location in Chicagoland via public transportation, and it is 100% map based. Brilliant.
ZipCar makes it easier to live in Chicago without a car, rent a car by the half-hour for roughly $8.50 per hour, gas and insurance included! ZipCar has cars all over the city and now the suburbs.
We think this is a very cool looking map, but in our opinion, the 'red' areas in this heat map are not necessarily an indicator of the relative safety of a neighborhood. Areas with a lot of retail tend to show more incidents of crime due to shoplifting, and areas with a high density of bars/nightclubs tend to have more incidents as well due to obvious factors (young people + alchohol = ????). This crime heat map is based on the straight number of incidents, and therefore areas with higher population density (like along Lake Michigan) tend to show more incidents of crime without necessarily being more or less dangerous than close-by areas that are less dense and therefore have fewer incidents.
