Author: Cameron Booth

Submission – Fantasy Map: The Internet Tube (worldwide submarine cable network)

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Fantasy Maps

Submitted by idleberg, smileandburn and others. Idleberg says: Something I came across by accident, the “Internet Tube”, a map of the world’s network of submarine fibre-optic cables. Looks terrible to me, especially since one of the main point of interest, the geographical context, is barely noticeable. Transit Maps says: While I feel that the goal of this diagram – the simplification of a vast and complex nodal network down to its basic elements – is a […]

Historical Map/Photo: Installing an Enormous Northern Pacific RR Map, 1917

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Historical Maps

A fantastic photo that shows a huge map being installed through a window at the Northern Pacific offices in St. Paul, Minnesota. The short article that accompanied the photo when it was first published in Popular Mechanics in February 1917 says: A railway map of enormous size was recently installed in the immigration department of the Northern Pacific Railway offices in St. Paul. It measures 69 ft. long and 11 ft. wide and required the […]

Highways Project Print Sample!

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My Transit Maps

I got my first test print back from the printers today: a sample of the Texas map. Basically, I’m ecstatic with the way things are looking – all the research and effort I’ve put into this over the last one-and-a-half years is so, so worth it. Just a few more little behind the scenes things to put into place and I’ll be ready to share this project with you all. Have I mentioned that I’m […]

Proposed Map: Moscow Tram Network by nOne Digital & Branding Agency

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Unofficial Maps

Sent my way for comments by the agency, here’s a very slick proposal for a new map for Moscow’s tram network. As a westerner, I was only very dimly aware that Moscow even has a tram network (the Metro grabs the spotlight), but it’s actually the fourth most extensive such network in the world, with 181km of combined route length. The three larger networks are Berlin (190km), St. Petersburg (220km), and Melbourne, Australia (254km). At […]

Reader Question: What do you think of Sound Transit’s station icons?

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Questions

Question: What do you think of Sound Transit’s station icons? I find them ineffective and embarrassing. And, they want opinions for new icons for new stations! You can see the survey yourself here. Answer: I talked about Sound Transit’s station icons in this review of the Link map that’s found in ST’s timetable book back in December 2012. Like you, I’m not particularly impressed by them. I think they’re overly detailed and they reproduce terribly […]

Unofficial Map: Los Angeles Metro for the “Analogue Guide: Los Angeles”

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Unofficial Maps

Submitted by Stefan, who says: Hi Cameron, I thought I’d share the Los Angeles Metro map that we designed for the Analogue Guide Los Angeles. We always include “alternative” transit maps in our guide books, such Eddie Jabbour’s KickMap or Mark Noad’s Tubemap. In Los Angeles, given the sheer lack of maps, we designed one in-house. It would be great to hear your thoughts on it! Transit Maps says: Thanks for sharing, Stefan! This is quite a neat […]

Historical Maps: Railroad Spiral Tunnels of the Gotthardbahn, 1914

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Historical Maps

In my previous post, I mentioned that the map of the Gotthardbahn showed the spiral tunnels that the track uses to quickly change elevation in areas with limited space. Here are some fantastic maps of those spirals, taken from a 1914 German encyclopaedia and found on Wikipedia. The maps show the spirals from north to south, with the distance in kilometres from the northern end of the line clearly shown along the route. The Gotthard […]

Historical Map: Gotthardbahn (Switzerland and Italy), 1898

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Historical Maps

Here’s a beautiful Art Nouveau railway poster promoting the Gotthardbahn that links northern Italy with Switzerland and points north through the famous Gotthard Tunnel. At the time of opening in 1882, the tunnel was the longest railway tunnel in the world at 15 kilometres (9.3 miles). The map shows the then privately-operated Gotthardbahn and its branch routes in thick black lines (the Swiss Railways incorporated the line into its national network in 1907). The tunnel […]