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35 Metro Regions in the Hivemapper Network Launch

Note: Since publishing this blog post on July 22, 2022, we have made a change to how we fulfill pre-orders. Ahead of the Hivemapper Network and its HONEY token launch on November 3, 2022, we started shipping all pre-orders based on "first to order, first to ship" globally. Since the launch, contributors can earn HONEY tokens for mapping and QA reviews globally and are getting a boost in the 35 metro regions defined in this blog post. You can view activity across the 35 metro regions in the Hivemapper Explorer.
We shared the 35 region boundaries in the Hivemapper Network Launch in our most recent blog article. We asked for community feedback on the proposed draft boundaries and received excellent suggestions from our community members. We implemented your feedback and updated the following nine metro regions: NYC, Madrid, Milan, Sydney, Toronto, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, and Seoul. 
We formulated changes that adequately represent the needs of a particular area. For example, some metro regions like Sydney or Seoul have an influx of routine travelers that live outside the defined metro region but work five days a week within said metro region.
You can see the updated Hivemapper Network Beta region boundaries for yourself in this interactive map.
We will fulfill pre-orders of the Hivemapper Dashcam within these 35 metro regions first. Everyone who receives these dashcams will be able to start mapping and earning HONEY tokens within these boundaries.

What Changes Did You Make for Each Metro Region?

NYC Metro Region

Draft boundary for the NYC metro region (left) and final boundary for NYC metro region (right).
Community Request: "Fairfield County, Connecticut is commonly considered a part of the NYC Metro Area. A large number of people commute into NYC..." 
Region Update: We opted to stretch the boundary eastward towards New Haven; we then encompassed the major arterial highways traversing between NYC and New Haven. The edge follows route CT15 inward towards NYC.

Madrid Metro Region

Draft boundary for the Madrid metro region (left) and final boundary for Madrid metro region (right).
Community Request: "I'd say that Torrejon de Ardoz and Arganda del Rey should be included in the Madrid region; these two areas are serviced by multiple rails, metro, and subway lines and have many businesses and individuals that commute to downtown Madrid daily."
Region Update: We extended eastward towards the M-203 and M-208 highways. On the southeast boundary region, we opened it towards highway A-3 and the intersection with highway R-3.

Milan Metro Region

Draft boundary for the Milan metro region (left) and final boundary for Milan metro region (right).
Community Request: “The map of Milan is strict on the southern portion while is super forgiving on the northwestern part of the boundary.”
Region Update: We decided to uniformly create a balance between the northern and southern extremes of Milan’s Beta region. The boundary was elongated along the Southeast border to incorporate city hubs such as Medaglia, Opera, and Trezzano Sul Naglivio. Doing so will create an even distribution of domestic and rural infrastructure throughout the Milan metro region.

Sydney Metro Region

Draft boundary for the Sydney metro region (left) and final boundary for Sydney metro region (right).
Community Request: "Can you please expand it west, to include the Blue Mountains up until Katoomba - it's considered part of Sydney, and many people live / work from that region into the edge of map boundaries and back again…"
Region Update: We expanded the most northwestern arm of the existing boundary.

Toronto Metro Region

Draft boundary for the Toronto metro region (left) and final boundary for Toronto metro region (right).
Community Request: “In the case of the greater Toronto area, for the purposes of the rollout you might consider extending westward to the Kitchener/Waterloo/Guelph areas.”
Region Update: We agree that Waterloo and its surrounding areas should be considered as part of the Toronto Metro Area. University of Waterloo is an essential institution that is an essential part of the Toronto region. We extended westward as suggested to include the following cities: Kitchener, Waterloo and Guelph.

Boston Metro Region

Draft boundary for the Boston metro region (left) and final boundary for Boston metro region (right).
Community Request: “I would have included out further west towards Worcester before moving up into rural NH and Maine…”
Region Update: We opted to expand westward to incorporate cities such as Leominster and Fitchburg. We also expanded the south of the boundary to include Worchester.

Chicago Metro Region

Draft boundary for the Chicago metro region (left) and final boundary for Chicago metro region (right).
Community Request: "Is it possible to expand the border for the Chicago area another 50 miles north to incorporate Milwaukee?"
Region Update: Though Milwaukee is not commonly considered part of Chicagoland, we made expanded the Chicago Metro Area to include a large portion of Milwaukee. However, we didn’t include all of the suburbs.

Seattle Metro Region

Draft boundary for the Seattle metro region (left) and final boundary for Seattle metro region (right).
Community Request: Paraphrased for clarification — “I would like the region boundary to expand westward to incorporate, Bremerton”
Region Update: We agree with this request. The Washington State Ferry System enables commuting to Seattle from the Olympic Penninsula and Puget Sound islands.

Seoul Metro Region

Draft boundary for the Seoul metro region (left) and final boundary for Seoul metro region (right).
Community Request: “I would be very grateful if you could add Suwon City” and “Could you expand the beta region for Korea?”
Region Update: Korea is one of the regions we have the most interest and traction in. The community had excellent feedback and we implemented the requested changes to include Suwon City as part of the Seoul Metro. It is a challenge determining a bounds to the Seoul Metro Area, as it is massive and has no clear bounds. We expanded this region to include Suwon City, as well as some additional surrounding urban area.

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