District of Columbia: Regional Map

In this official government map of the Washington, DC region, you see the classic design of the region: metropolitan centers surrounded by concentric transportation rings. There are several theories on how this design came about:

• It reflects the common local tendency to travel in circles.
• It is a diversion to enemy bombers, centering on where the politicians gather (airport bars) and away from more critical areas (where the tobacco price support checks are written).
• It is a Zen lesson in life, showing how a rock thrown into a pool will create ripples, but the ripples will slowly fade away to nothing.
• It was an accident: someone set several coffee cups on a map during a break, and these were misinterpreted as construction orders.

The last theory, of course, is the correct one.

[Start] [Previous] [Next]

Washington Apple Pi Virtual Tours, October 15, 1997 lic