Submission – Official Map: Metro de Medellin Map, 2018  

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Submitted by David Osorio, who says:

It shows Metro lines, BRT lines, Tramway and Aerial Cable Car lines.

Transit Maps says:

I last reviewed Medellin’s transit map back in 2014 (1.5 stars), but this new version is sufficiently different for me to re-evaluate it. The first things I notice are the route lines are much thicker and the labels are much bigger, changes which improve the map tremendously over the spindly previous version. 

However, some of the MetroCable lines still have strangely crooked paths: the kink in the “K” line remains unfathomable, as does the angled station marker at Acevedo. The new tram line also has two small and unnecessary kinks in it. And I really don’t understand why the “1” bus route is placed below the “2″ on the way out to the University of Medellin when it has to cross over it at Industriales. Speaking of which, the section from Industriales to Plaza Mayor remains very unconvincing.

The legend is more comprehensive than the old one and now offers English translations, but it does feel like it’s just been thrown into the available spaces at the bottom of the map, making that whole section feel very busy and cramped. One wonders what the map makers are going to do when Line 3 is complete and they need to add station labels to it.

Finally, while the idea of icons for each mode is nice, there’s very little visual difference between the icons used for Metro, tram and gondola, which makes them a little tricky to tell apart at first glance.

Our rating: Better than before, but still somewhat cramped and disorganized. Two stars. 

PS. Watch this space for a quick redesign of this map – I got inspired while preparing this post and quickly put together something quite different in its approach.

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