I was at the De Young Museum viewing the King Tut exhibit and went up to the viewing tower which offers great views of San Francisco in every direction - assuming the weather is cooperating - and in September it is very cooperative. One of the features of this level is a giant aerial photo of the city mounted on the wall. You can see it in the picture above. The De Young is located on the map just above the left shoulder of the guy wearing the checked shirt.
When viewed from the side, the map reveals an interesting thing. Because the map can be touched, certain areas have been worn and are shiny. The shiniest spot on the map is the De Young museum itself. The other shiny spots reveal other areas of interest, and they are not really all what I'd expect. The other shiny spots are Van Ness Avenue, The Palace of the Legion of Honor and St. Mary's Cathedral.
I'd expect that some other more prominent landmarks would have been rubbed the same amount, but it doesn't appear to be the case. I guess my point is that you never can tell what people are interested in, given a choice. In this case, everything on the map has equal prominence, unlike those sorts of maps which highlight the attractions. The ones rubbed smooth here are not the typical tourist attractions, though they must serve as landmarks or familiar places to the museum visitors.
