Month: April 2016

Submission – Photo: Baltimore “Rail Connections” Map in Metro Subway Train

April 29, 2016
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Submitted by Bob Hay, who says: Here’s a photo I took on the Baltimore Metro. It’s a glass partition with system map showing connections to Light Rail and MARC as well as the Metro subway line. I don’t recall ever seeing a map displayed on glass like this. (Sorry the photo isn’t clearer, but my stop was approaching.) Transit Maps says: While maps on glass partitions are unusual, they’re not unique to Baltimore. Off the […]

Photo: Homespun Tactile MBTA Map for Visually Impaired Users

April 28, 2016
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Although this crafty map of the MBTA rapid transit system is very obviously home-made, it has some clever ideas for helping visually impaired riders. Each route line is constructed with different materials, each with their own texture, which enables quick identification of lines by touch. Stations are marked with beads, and there are Braille labels as well, although the placement of some of them could be better. The photo was taken at a disabilities conference […]

Historical Map: Rail Car and Bus Routes of Central Vancouver, April 1953

April 27, 2016
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Historical Maps
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A hand-coloured and lettered (in what looks like colour pencil!) map showing the various streetcar, interurban trains and bus routes in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia in 1953 – just five years before the interurban trains ceased operations. The north pointer on this map is one of the loveliest I have seen. See also: this charming illustrated transit map of Vancouver from 1930. Source: City of Vancouver Archives/Flickr

Submission – Unofficial Map: SEPTA Regional Rail and Rapid Transit by Sam Winfield

April 26, 2016
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Submitted by Sam, who says: Hey! For my Graphic Design Thesis, I created a Graphics Standard Update proposal for SEPTA. This includes a System Map (attached), a line map, and various other identity pieces. The most challenging part of the project was creating a Transit map that organized the current information in a way that felt unique to Philadelphia, and increased readability. Transit Maps says: A bold and radical departure from the status quo from […]

Updated Official Map: Denver RTD Rail Services Map, April 2016

April 22, 2016
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Denver’s rapidly-expanding rail network took another step forward today with the opening of the new commuter rail service out to Denver International Airport – the “train to the plane”, as they (a little unoriginally) call it.  However, for those – like me! – hoping for a new map to celebrate the new service, you’re in for a disappointment, as the latest offering is just a minimally-modified version of the previous map (June 2016, 1.5 stars). […]

Official Map – Bus Map of Sundsvall, Sweden, 2016

April 14, 2016
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A nice and friendly-looking schematic bus map from the city of Sundsvall in Västernorrland County, Sweden. The filename of the map’s PDF actually refers to it as a tunnelbanekarta – basically, (in the style of) a subway map – which has led to the map being posted to reddit in the belief that it’s an actual subway/metro map of the city. I would have thought the giant “BUSS NAVET” (bus hub) circle in the centre of the […]

Reader Question: Preparing Print-Ready Raster Files from Adobe Illustrator

April 7, 2016
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Question: Hi Cameron, I’m wrapping up a transit map project that I’ll likely print professionally. I was all set to send the printer a PDF until I happened to catch one of your tweets that mentioned using a high-resolution JPEG instead. I’m wondering if you could share your recommended practices for exporting from Illustrator to print-ready JPEG in terms of resolution, color profiles, and the like. The last thing any of us wants is to […]

Submission  – Official Map: Transtejo Ferry Network of Lisbon, Portugal, 2016

April 5, 2016
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Submitted by Frederico, who says: Here’s the new diagram for Transtejo, the company that manages Lisbon’s main waterways lines. It is part of Transportes de Lisboa, the main company, along with Metro and Carris, the one that provides buses and trams. I can’t decide if I like it or not… It definitely inherited the simplism and amazing typeface from Lisbon’s Metro map, which I approve, but I feel like it could be better executed. There’s […]

Submission – Official Map: Regional Bus Map of Wismar, Germany, 2016

April 4, 2016
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Submitted by Simon, who says: I recently found this horrible official map of the regional buses in the North-German town of Wismar. I already planned to make them a proper map until I found out that this bus company doesn’t operate anymore since the end of 2015, so it probably doesn’t matter. Transit Maps says: Not operating anymore, huh? I wonder if having a map that made it virtually impossible to work out where any […]