isometric.nyc
The most recommended of 26 interactive maps
People enjoy zooming around this giant isometric map of New York, finding their own buildings and recalling SimCity. Critics say it does not look like true pixel art.
People enjoy zooming around this giant isometric map of New York, finding their own buildings and recalling SimCity. Critics say it does not look like true pixel art.
60 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 52
- criticize it
- 8
- approval share
- 87%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 52 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 6.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Fun to explore and find familiar places
“Amazing. Took forever but I found my building in Brooklyn as well as the nearby dealership, gas station, and public school.”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC” “there's enough interesting things in "real new york" to make scrolling around this a fun thing to do”
Comment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC” “I see things now, that I never saw before, in areas I'm intimately familiar with.”
Comment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC” - Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC”
- Comment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC”
Captures the SimCity feel
“It scratches that SimCity itch while still being recognizably New York.”
Comment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC” “this makes me want to play simcity again! really cool”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC” “You definitely captured the SimCity vibe. Well done!”
Comment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC” - Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC”
Beautiful, detailed and fascinating to view
“Spectacular! I'm morbidly fascinated by the variance in how well different streets have been plowed.”
Comment from 23 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc/snow” “It's beautiful and very interesting to look at, because of all the details.”
Comment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC” “This is kind of beautiful. Great work! I mean it.”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC” - Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC”
Accurate, best map of NYC
“this map is a dream and the best map of NYC I've ever seen”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC” “I'm just happy this seems to be about 99.9+% accurate.”
Comment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC” “it's my new favorite map of NYC”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Doesn't look like real pixel art
“This is a cool concept, but it's definitely not pixel art by any definition.”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC” “This doesn't really look like pixel art; it looks like you applied a (very sophisticated) Photoshop filter to Google Earth.”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC” “it just looks...bad? Just a strange blurry mess that only vaguely smells of pixelart.”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC” - Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC”
Not working or CORS errors
“Not working here, some CORS issue.”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC” “Not working here either. Two different errors with two different browsers on Arch.”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC” “Same in Safari on macOS here, FWIW.”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC” Looks AI-generated or off
“realized how many of these look like ... well AI”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC” “what AI does for "pixel art" is very off”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC” “Looks badly AI generated.”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC” Missing areas and stitching artifacts
“But not all of NYC. Where's the rest of Staten Island?”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC” “there are some very obvious inaccuracies (stitching artefacts?) in this map”
Comment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Show HN: isometric.nyc – giant isometric pixel art map of NYC”
Other interactive maps people recommend
The four most recommended other interactive maps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| isometric.nycThis page | 52 | 8 | 87% | 3 | — | — |
| Map of Metal | 34 | 4 | 89% | 2 | — | — |
| CheapFoodMap | 29 | 8 | 78% | 1 | — | — |
| Isopolis | 27 | 7 | 79% | 1 | — | — |
| Shipmap.org | 23 | 6 | 79% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 62 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I'm reminded of the wonderful https://cannoneyed.com/projects/isometric-nyc project”
“Spectacular! I'm morbidly fascinated by the variance in how well different streets have been plowed.”
“New interesting artsy web projects are being posted on hn all the time.”
“I'm just happy this seems to be about 99.9+% accurate.”
“there's enough interesting things in "real new york" to make scrolling around this a fun thing to do”
“I see things now, that I never saw before, in areas I'm intimately familiar with.”
“Looks pretty amazing, especially a bit zoomed out!”
“You definitely captured the SimCity vibe. Well done!”
“This is fantastic, can't overstate how revolutionary this would be for gaming development.”
“This is an incredible piece of work that I had a blast exploring!”
“there are some very obvious inaccuracies (stitching artefacts?) in this map”
“It's beautiful and very interesting to look at, because of all the details.”
“It scratches that SimCity itch while still being recognizably New York.”
“This is a fantastic piece of work, AI or no!”
“I love it, and I want it for my city, and hell the whole world!”
“Absolutely loved zooming around to see”
“The progressive loading of the tile images really goes great with the pixel art style.”
“Very gorgeous and creative!”
“Really fun to fly around, find my old apartment building etc.”
“it's my new favorite map of NYC”
“what AI does for "pixel art" is very off”
“It's still a very cool site to play around with, but the framing is terrible.”
“Looks badly AI generated.”
“Doesn’t really look anything like pixel art at all. Because it isn’t.”
“it just looks...bad? Just a strange blurry mess that only vaguely smells of pixelart.”
“this makes me want to play simcity again! really cool”
“Such a SimCity 2000 vibe!”
“this map is a dream and the best map of NYC I've ever seen”
“This doesn't really look like pixel art; it looks like you applied a (very sophisticated) Photoshop filter to Google Earth.”
“This is awesome, and thanks so much for the deep dive into process!!”
“realized how many of these look like ... well AI”
“Amazing. Took forever but I found my building in Brooklyn as well as the nearby dealership, gas station, and public school.”
“This is a cool concept, but it's definitely not pixel art by any definition.”
“This is very cool, it would be awesome if I could rotate it as well”
“But not all of NYC. Where's the rest of Staten Island?”
“Class, looks amazing. The embed in the writeup looks so cool!”
“This is kind of beautiful. Great work! I mean it.”
“Same in Safari on macOS here, FWIW.”
“Not working here either. Two different errors with two different browsers on Arch.”
“Not working here, some CORS issue.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.