Author: Cameron Booth

Submission – Historical Map: Newcastle Transport Route Map, September 1949

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Historical Maps

Submitted by Paul, who says: A map from the Beamish Museum showing the Newcastle upon Tyne tram, trolleybus and bus network in 1949. The trams and trolleys are long gone, but the bus network is still recognisable. I used to take the number 1 through that janky Heaton route in the 2000s. The choice of sections for the map lookup references seems very of its time too. Transit Maps says: A rather splendid map, with […]

Historical Map: Prague Metro Booklet, c. May 1974

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Historical Maps

A charming page introducing the Prague Metro, probably from around May 1974 when the first section of the Metro – Line C from Sokolovská (now Florenc) to Kačerov – opened. A diagram of the planned system takes up the majority of the page, accompanied by illustrations and text explaining how ticketing, barriers and ingress/egress from the stations would work. Altogether rather lovely. Source: transphoto.org

Submission – Unofficial (But almost official) Map: Integrated map of Mexico City by Pedro Avila

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Unofficial Maps

Submitted by Pedro, who says: So… long story short: By the end of 2018, I submitted to Mexico City official transport authority called SEMOVI (Secretary of Mobility) a proposal for the integrated transport map, which did not make it to the end, and here’s why: Time: The government wanted to introduce its “Integrated Mobility” plan within the first 100 days in office and even though my map was almost ready to go, they were already […]

Submission – Official Map: Stockholm Archipelago Ferry Network Diagram, 2021

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Submitted by Matias, who says: Waxholmsbolaget is a big ferry operator in Stockholm, connecting most of the small islands in the Stockholm archipelago. They have recently updated their line map to a very diagrammatic style. The idea is good, to make it easier to find the lines and where you are going, but it massively distorts the network and the omission of geographic features makes it very difficult to orient yourself. What do you think? […]

Official Map: Sydney Trains Bankstown Line Closure Bus Services Map… and a Better Unofficial Alternative

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Official Maps, Unofficial Maps

Sydney’s Bankstown Line is closing for two weeks at the end of June as part of its conversion from standard heavy rail to a new and fancy high-frequency Metro line. Sydney Trains has produced the following map to help people navigate the many train replacement bus services needed to get riders around, and it’s… not great. While I understand that producing this type of map often involves a rapid turnaround with very little budget, this […]

Official Map: Klang Valley Integrated Transit System, Malaysia, 2021

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Official Maps

I recently came across this new diagram of rapid transit in the Greater Kuala Lumpur area, and thought it interesting enough to review. Previous official maps of this network have been very generic and slipshod, so it’s good to see an attempt to make a more distinctive and memorable diagram, though I don’t think it’s entirely successful. Overall, I think it does a decent job of depicting a sprawling network – the labelling of stations […]

Official Map: Melbourne Tram Network, 2021

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Official Maps

Here’s a review that’s definitely very overdue: the official Melbourne tram network diagram. Overall, it’s a very pleasantly stylised depiction of the network using 30-degree angles, though it probably takes diagrammatic expansion of the downtown area to extremes. The distance from Harbour Esplanade to Spring Street is just 2.5km (or 1.5 miles), but it takes up a huge portion of the map, shrinking Melbourne’s expansive suburbs substantially. I will say that the extra room for […]

Video: History of the MBTA’s Rapid Transit Map

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Miscellany, Official Maps

I came across this on YouTube the other day, and thought it was definitely worth sharing. It’s quite long (clocking in at well over an hour if you include the Q&A session at the end), but there’s a lot of great insight into both the history of the MBTA map, and of Ken’s personal journey designing the map over the years. Of particular interest is how the whole redesign via a crowd-sourced contest a few […]

Submission – Historical Map: M6 Bus Route Sign, New York, c. 1975

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Historical Maps

Submitted by Shaul Picker, who says: I have a Flickr and save these images from eBay listings and elsewhere. This is a sign from the former New York City Department of Traffic showing the M6 bus route, which was eliminated in 2010. Transit Maps says: What a great little map! While the M6 may have been eliminated in 2010, this map is much older, as evidenced by both the very 1970s typography, the use of […]

Submission – Unofficial Map of All Transmilenio Services, Bogotá, Colombia by Sergio Mejía

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Unofficial Maps

Submitted by Sergio, who says: Hi Cameron! Some months ago I designed a map of my city Bogotá where it shows all of the services in the system in the shape of the map we know. As you know, there are a ton of services in Transmilenio, so a standard map wouldn’t work – thus each station having strip maps of the lines. However, I wanted to see how a full map would look. Of […]