NOUMAN KHAN MAPS
IN DEVELOPMENT

City Layers for iPhone

The Toronto Layers and Chicago Layers maps, as an app. Drop a pin anywhere in either city and a “What’s here” card describes the spot. It’s being built now and tested with a small group before it goes on the App Store.

What it does

  • What’s here: pin any spot in Toronto or Chicago to see its neighbourhood or community area, its ward and who represents it, and how people live there, from public census and city data.
  • Map layers: switch boundaries on and off to see how the city is divided.
  • Widget: a home-screen widget that shows what’s here wherever you are.

It describes places rather than ranking them: no “best” or “worst” neighbourhood scores. It has no accounts, ads or tracking; see the privacy policy.

City Layers is an independent project by Nouman Khan. It isn’t affiliated with the City of Toronto or the City of Chicago.

Testing

The app is in beta through Apple’s TestFlight. Testers install the free TestFlight app from the App Store, then open their invitation link to install City Layers.

Testing is by invitation for now. If you know Toronto or Chicago well and would like to help, email me and say which city.

Support

Found a bug, a wrong boundary or something that reads oddly? Get in touch:

hello@noumankhan.ca

It helps to include your iPhone model and iOS version, the city, and what you tapped. A screenshot is ideal. Testers can also send feedback from inside TestFlight, which attaches these details automatically.

Location isn’t working

Location is optional. To turn it on, open iOS Settings, then City Layers, then Location. Without it you can still drop a pin or search.

Adding the widget

Touch and hold an empty part of the home screen, tap Edit, then Add Widget, and choose City Layers.

A boundary or fact looks wrong

The data comes from public sources: the City of Toronto, the City of Chicago, Statistics Canada, the U.S. Census Bureau and OpenStreetMap, credited in the app’s About screen. Census figures are from the most recent release, so they lag a few years behind. If something looks wrong, email the spot and what you expected; local knowledge is exactly what’s useful.

Removing your data

Everything the app saves (your preferred city, last pin and widget snapshot) stays on your iPhone. Deleting the app deletes it.