This paper is more than anything a showcase for the method they created. I think the point of their visualisations is to make them as appealing as possible, and

This paper is more than anything a showcase for the method they created. I think the point of their visualisations is to make them as appealing as possible, and people want to see how Manhattan looks, but they might now want to see how a certain neighbourhood in Singapore looks. And that choice definitely did help create virality for their research a few years back.