Elsewhere, Here

Inspiration

A city can feel unfamiliar even when something about it reminds you of home: the way people use a street, a market you would stop at, or a place you like to linger. We wanted to turn that familiar feeling into a reason to learn about a New York neighborhood, without suggesting that two places or cultures are the same.

What it does

Elsewhere, Here helps visitors and newcomers find a connection to NYC. Someone can describe a place they miss or explore real places such as gardens, markets, public art, and local businesses. The app explains why a suggestion may fit, shows where its information comes from, and invites the visitor to discover what makes the NYC place distinct.

We also created deeper, curated neighborhood stories for Jackson Heights, Red Hook, and Inwood. We keep those stories separate from the broader citywide place listings: a public dataset record is a starting point for exploration, not a complete account of a neighborhood.

How we built it

We built the frontend with React, TypeScript, and Vite, and the backend with Express. The backend retrieves records from NYC Open Data through its Socrata API, including public art, events, markets, gardens, public spaces, restaurants, and licensed businesses. We normalize different datasets into place listings, check their locations, and show source links. The neighborhood stories and sourced question-answering experience use curated material.

Challenges and what we learned

Our biggest challenge was defining what a “similar feeling” actually means. Words like lively or local sound useful, but city datasets do not measure them directly. We learned to separate documented facts—such as a place’s location or type- from our own interpretation, and to acknowledge when the evidence cannot support a claim.

We also had to work with datasets that differ in their fields, coverage, and update schedules. A restaurant inspection is not a restaurant review; a business license is not a complete directory of shops; and an inventory listing does not guarantee that a place is open right now. Those limits shaped how we present recommendations.

What’s next

We want to test whether the suggestions actually help people feel more connected to a place. Their feedback can help us improve the matching criteria and develop more carefully researched neighborhood stories.