The marketing savvy brokers at DreamTown.com are offering a new version of their Chicago neighborhood map for FREE. They bill the map as the "most current and complete map of current Chicago neighborhoods available for free."
Their claim is technically true -- the map is free.
But "current and complete" is a bunch of bunk.
The neighborhood map has become a popular marketing tool for real estate companies who want to expand the boundaries of popular hoods to ... MAKE MORE MONEY.
This is how DreamTown.com came up with their boundaries: "The team consulted neighborhood associations and tapped the knowledge of agents in the field to create an accurate and detailed representation of Chicago neighborhoods." It's pretty brilliant really.
But the problem with these maps are that they distort the truth -- expand the size of a popular neighborhood such as Roscoe Village, or fail to include entire neighborhoods such as Canaryville or The Bush. Yes, The Bush.
What really ticks me off is when these companies completely disregard South Side neighborhoods south of Hyde Park, and anything south of Midway Airport.
The most ridiculous example of the real estate "neighborhood map" is this one form @properties.com.
There are some cool Chicago neighbhorhood maps that are more artistic and less informational. Here's my favorite.
But if you want to know exactly which neighborhood is which I recommend the city of Chicago's official -- accurate and complete -- neighborhood map.
At his best, Mark Konkol is a White Sox fan. He lives on the South Side. He
enjoys cold beer. At one time or another over the last 10 years, he's covered Chicago and Cook County government, city schools, transportation and the ins-and-outs of neighborhood life. E-mail him at 
I don't think you took a close enough look at this map. You specified one map that you didn't care for in particular, I clicked on it, and you also stated that the company "disregard(s) South Side neighborhoods south of Hyde Park, and anything south of Midway Airport." Umm...I'm looking at this map in my old neighborhood in Brainerd Park and that's in the 8700-9000 area. I went to Brainerd Park all the time and attended Fort Dearborn Elementary School. That's there. I'm looking at south side locations like Beverly, Washington Park, West Pullman, Mount Greenwood, all neighborhoods south of Hyde Park. All you have to do is click the map and it breaks the south side neighborhoods down.
Note from Mark:
I appreciate your comments. Take look at the official neighborhood map you will get more precise boundaries for all the city's neighborhoods. Check it out.
Not only is your blog inaccurate about the map not including south side neighborhoods, but this map is so detailed that when you click on it, you get every single s. side neighborhood, and if you click on one in particular (ex. Brainerd), it gives you the zip codes, another map, and neighboring areas.
Note from Mark: Every Chicago neighborhood is not located on that map. Check out the offical city map I recommended. Thanks for reading.
The city map has its own issues. Check out some popular north side neighborhoods by way of example.
The Gold Coast has swallowed up most of Streeterville on the city map and Streeterville is limited to a small area. Ranch Triangle (Racine, Armitage, North, Clybourn, Halsted) sprawls west. Goose Island (who ever calls it that?) takes up a large swatch of the near north area. Sheffield Neighbors is also on an expansionist kick - and the DePaul are simply doesn't exist.
The most accurate and complete list is, of course, the one I wrote as a Google Knol:
http://knol.google.com/k/the-ultimate-list-of-chicago-neighborhoods#
Great piece on the value and redlining nature of real estate marketing materials in Chicago. You're correct to point out that these maps are discriminatory nature, created in the best interest of broker/agents who want to move houses within certain zipcodes.
But these maps are a great source of misinformation and can tell you a lot about the map makers. For example, anyone who's dealt with them knows that @properties is a cut rate, cut throat, profiteering real estate company that uses unlicensed, assistants in place of real estate agents. They make these assistants "partners", who attempt to front run properties in certain areas, and dump them off to buyers who respond to their massive media buys.
How the owner because a board member of a Real Estate board shows how deep the stuff we're in. Real estate broker's "objective" impressions of neighborhoods and agents are bad enough-- using a map made by the one that can't even uphold the professional standards of it's own trade group isn't exactly the best way to happiness.
Dreamtown, the internet marketing monster is selling their own dreams too, and using their maps is sure to have you ignoring the best real estate opportunities in Chicago, and footing their listing, marketing and sales bills (oh, and the payments on their agent's fancy sports cars).
Anyone looking for a good source of info. should use unaffiliated sources, such as http://www.city-data.com/city/Illinois.html
Konkol's got a great point. While those realtor freebies or art-store maps you can buy will have most neighborhoods, their boundaries are way off the mark. It's a tactic to get renters and condo-buyers to think they're in a trendy neighborhood, when in fact they're 4 blocks outside of it. If perception is reality, then they're doing a pretty good job. Love the city map you linked to, but you missed a really great tool, also created by the city, that lets you plug in an address or intersection and find out what neighborhood it's in: http://maps.cityofchicago.org/mapchicago/viewer.htm ... Hit Go To, then plug in an address. Expand the Community Development pulldown, check Neighborhoods, then hit the refresh map display link. Whammo.
How the owner because a board member of a Real Estate board shows how deep the stuff we're in. Real estate broker's "objective" impressions of neighborhoods and agents are bad enough-- using a map made by the one that can't even uphold the professional standards of it's own trade group isn't exactly the best way to happiness.
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