Using mapping software from the Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI), DORIS’ application developers built the map. They created a form to enter the biographical or background information contained in local laws termed “street renaming bills” that have been passed by the City Council between 2001 and the present. The data on the form is linked to the appropriate location on the map. During the summer of 2024, a team of interns from CUNY and the PENCIL programs transferred the data about locations and each of the 2,496 individuals into the form.
The map is searchable by the name of the individual, zip code, and categories such as “firefighter” or “police officer.” So far, there are 1,610 co-named intersections, and 886 co-named streets.
Residents of the Astoria neighborhood in Queens are not likely to be surprised by the co-named Tony Bennett Place at the intersection of 32nd Street and Ditmars Boulevard. The co-naming by the Council in 2024 honored Astoria-native Bennett for his lifetime in music that included 20 Grammy Awards, and more than 50 million records sold worldwide.
