Take a little trip with this 3D map of New York City

From the New York websiteThis three-dimensional visualization of New York City puts Google Maps to shame.

Created by graphic engineer Patricio Gonzalez Vivo, the animated map gives a sky-high view of the city’s hustle and bustle, capturing cars cruising along streets and lights buzzing on and off in buildings. The map was inspired by Japanese electronic composer and artist Ryoji Ikeda, Vivo told DNAinfo.

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“He uses real data, big data, and remixes it and blends it in this beautifully minimalistic way that speaks so much about our digital era,” Vivo said.

Vivo, who created the project for open source mapping lab Mapzen, applied mathematical functions to street data to create the animated scene. If you look close enough, you can see One World Trade Center towering over Downtown Manhattan, 432 Park Avenue rising above Central Park and possibly even the pontiff cruising in his Popemobile. [DNAinfo] and [Mapzen] — Kerry Barger