Month: March 2016

Historical Map: Vancouver City and Suburban Lines, c. 1930

March 3, 2016
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Via: illustratedvancouver: A Guide to Vancouver, the complete map by Peter Hugh Page, a pamphlet by BCER circa 1930, pre-Lions Gate Bridge. “BCER Takes you everywhere!” From the VPL Special Collections, SPEMAPC 388.46 V223b 1930 A charmingly breezy little map of streetcar, interurban rail and motorbus services in Vancouver in 1930. Hand-drawn by one Peter Hugh Page (even the BCER logo!), the map features a number of crudely drawn but amusing vignettes of life in […]

Submission – Historical Map: The Bogue Plan For Seattle, 1911

March 2, 2016
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Submitted by SounderBruce, who says: Of Seattle’s many, many unsuccessful attempts to build a rapid transit system, none sting more than the century-old Bogue Plan. Rejected by a landslide of 10,000 votes (out of 40,000 total cast) on March 5, 1912, Virgil Bogue’s ambitious comprehensive plan to convert the regraded remains of Denny Hill into a Beaux-Arts civic center reminiscent of European city centers would have been well served by 91 miles of rapid transit […]

Historical Map: Planned Glasgow Subway Expansion Map, 2007

March 1, 2016
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In the lead-up to hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Glasgow and the SPT came over all excited and proposed this spectacular “East End” expansion to the Glasgow Subway, potentially throwing away over 100 years of circumrevolutionary transit perfection.  As we now know, none of this ever came to fruition, saving everyone from having to call the expanded system “The Pair of Specs” (or something equally lame) instead of the current awesome “Clockwork Orange” sobriquet. The map itself […]

On That “Most Complex Subway Map” Article

March 1, 2016
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Thanks to everyone (and I do mean everyone!) who has sent the recent “The World’s Most Complex Subway Maps as Determined by Scientists!” article to me – from various sources, including this take from CityLab.  However, when I read the full academic paper that all these articles are based on, I think that everyone’s got the wrong end of the stick. The study is not of map complexity at all, but of network complexity.  The methodology outlined […]

Historical Map: Pneumatic Mail Tube Network, Paris, 1967

March 1, 2016
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Paris’ other underground transportation system. This is a fantastic and detailed map of the once-extensive network of pneumatic tubes used for whisking messages, post and telegrams from one side of the city to the other. Established in 1866, the system remained in use until 1984, when it was finally supplanted by “modern” technology like fax and telex machines. At the system’s apogee, there were over 460 kilometres (285 miles) of tubes running beneath the city. Notable […]