The animated gif is probably the most important thing that ever happened to historical maps. A recent powerpoint presentation to the Transportation & Public Works committee had an awesome series of maps showing the change in the bikeway network from 1997 to 2013 …(and beyond!) and I just couldn’t resist (and had some time on my hands) to make an animated gif out it. Behold the closing maps from Civilization as applied to bikeways in Minneapolis!

(The only annoying thing about animated gifs is sometimes you want to spend some quality time with a particular year, and unlike Civilization’s closing maps there is no pause button on a gif, so here’s a pdf of all the maps.)

Note that I included the Existing & Funded Bikeway Network map as a proxy for what has/is likely to happen in 2014. What do you think of the progress of bikeway construction in Minneapolis? Has the city missed any opportunities? Do you see this map as half-full or half-empty?