Guess Where I Went Today?
Month: January 2015
Historical Map: Go Transit Timetable Map, June 26, 1974
Pretty bare bones and basic, as timetable maps often are, reflecting the extent of service, not the actual details. Only three rail lines compared to today’s six. For some reason, Thornlea is set in a much more condensed version of the typeface than every other label, even though it looks like it would fit easily. The agency still uses the groovy 70s “GO” part of the logo, but has wisely dropped the similarly-styled “TRANSIT”. […]
On Digitally Restoring Vintage Maps
Restoring the vintage transit maps that I'm now selling in my store is a laborious, time-intensive task, but I think that it's definitely worth it in the end. The major task is getting rid of blemishes: age spots, ink smears, tears, creases, dirt, dust, and even hair or other fibres that are between the print and the scanning surface. Here's how I go about things!
Historical Map: Surface Car Lines of Manhattan Island, August 13, 1915
Via the now inactive nyplmaps Tumblr: Map showing surface car lines of Manhattan Island, August 13, 1915. This 61 x 185 cm color map with an approximate scale of 1:12,500 shows the streetcar lines operated by NY Railways, the Third Avenue System and the Second Avenue Railroad Co. that once roamed the Isle of Manhattan. I’ll reblog just about anything transit-related from the New York Public Library’s map collection, but this is even more special than […]
Historical Maps: Rail Transit in North America, 1984 by Dennis McClendon
I thought I was all done with “to scale” maps of North American rail systems, but then Dennis McClendon (see previous posts from him) sent in this beautiful series of maps that he produced for Planning magazine back in 1984. Dennis himself says: Given this week’s Tumblr theme, I thought you might be interested in these maps that I did in 1984, when I worked for Planning magazine. The “new wave” of modern light rail […]
Unofficial Map: Transportation Map of Burger King… I Mean Istanbul
Here’s how to ruin a fairly competent map of transit in Istanbul in one easy step… by my count, there are a staggering seventy-one Burger King logos dotted pretty much everywhere on this map like a bad case of the measles. And as this is a heavily stylised diagrammatic map, are the logos even of any use in locating said fast food restaurants? Source: losangeles1947/Flickr
Melbourne Trams and Toronto Streetcars to the same scale as US Streetcar Systems
My final post on this subject (for now). I absolutely love these two separate graphics that take a previous version of Matt Johnson’s graphic (which only compared streetcar systems in the US) and add either Melbourne’s comprehensive tram network or Toronto’s streetcar network at the same scale. To be honest, I almost didn’t believe the Melbourne one when I first saw it – surely the creator had muddled up miles and kilometres! – and had to […]
Infographic: Rail Rapid Transit of the United States and Canada to Scale by Peter Dovak
A follow-up to yesterday’s post: several people pointed me to this graphic by Peter Dovak that extends the concept to include all rail-based rapid transit in the USA and Canada, including people movers and monorails (but not commuter rail). transitoriented: A compilation of rail rapid transit systems drawn (but not arranged) to scale. An attempt at an homage to this classic map by Bill Rankin, updated for 2015. View a larger resolution version here.
American Light Rail and Streetcar Systems to Scale by Matt Johnson
Nice work here from long-time Transit Maps correspondent Matt Johnson as he visualises all existing and under construction light rail and streetcar systems in the USA in one graphic. In a way, this graphic is an update of this fantastic (but now out of date) one by Bill Rankin that shows the relative scales of all North American rail-based urban rapid transit (PDF link). The sprawling nature of some of the light rail systems is readily apparent, reflecting the […]
Official Map: Salt Lake Express Shuttle Bus Service Area
Here’s a map from a regional bus service that I had to unexpectedly use this last week in order to get to Idaho Falls from Salt Lake City Airport. Linking the Salt Lake Valley with the major regional centres of southern Idaho (Boise, Idaho Falls and Rexburg), Salt Lake Express is a vital transportation option, especially when airfares for the shuttle flights from SLC into Idaho Falls are ridiculously high (grumble, grumble). While the map […]