Author: Cameron Booth

Design Resource: Transport for London’s “Line Diagram Standards” Guide

December 17, 2013
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Definitely worth a look to see how a major transit agency puts together a comprehensive guide to assembling consistently designed maps. The guide deals with horizontal in-car strip maps and the vertical line maps seen on platforms, but many of the principles still hold true for the design of a full transit map. Of particular interest is the relationship between the x-height of Johnston Sans and the thickness of the route lines (they’re the same). […]

Tutorial: Creating Multiple Parallel Route Lines

December 17, 2013
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Today’s tutorial comes from an anonymous question that I received in my inbox, which asked: I design a bus transit map using a street layer. But how can i align correctly multiple lines on a street without overlap? This is a great question. You’d be amazed how often I see people attempting to draw multiple parallel route lines manually, which is absolutely the most difficult way of doing things. You might be able to get away with it on […]

Submission – Historical Map: Public Transit in Amsterdam, 1988 by Hans van der Kooi

December 16, 2013
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Submitted by the designer of the map, Hans van der Kooi, who says: As a result of the popularity of the hand-out map for trams (June 2013, 4.5 stars) in Amsterdam, we designed a larger scale map, used on the tram and bus stops in Amsterdam, including the line of the buses as well. Designed and used in 1988. Transit Maps says: It’s an absolute pleasure to have this map submitted by the original designer! […]

Submission – New Official Moscow Metro In-Car Strip Map

December 16, 2013
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Submitted by long-time contributor, Dmitry Darsavilidze, here’s a brand new strip map for Metro Line 6. Designed by Art.Lebedev Studios, and based on their contest-winning system map, this carries on the good work of that design. The strip map is simple and uncluttered, and has nice, large, easy-to-read type (a failing of many strip maps, which often have type to small to be easily read from any sort of distance). Information is presented consistently – […]

Unofficial Map: Washington DC Metro Map by Peter Dovak

December 13, 2013
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An interesting approach to an alternative DC Metro map by Peter Dovak, who previously submitted this fantasy light rail map of Louisville, Kentucky.  There’s quite a bit to like here: I love the circular abstraction of the beltway highway around DC, which is then centred perfactly around the District diamond. Peter’s even made sure that the “square” formed by the three main interchange stations – Metro Center, Gallery Place and L’Enfant Plaza – sits at […]

Amended Tube Map removes Embankment Interchange for 2014 Works

December 12, 2013
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Even design classics like the London Tube map have to be flexible enough to cope with change. The escalators to the Northern and Bakerloo lines at Embankment station – yes, the very escalators that can be seen in the previously posted cutaway diagram from 1914 – are going to be completely replaced. The process is going to take 43 weeks starting on January 8 next year. During that time, Northern and Bakerloo trains will pass […]

Historical Diagram: Charing Cross/Embankment Tube Station Cutaway, 1914

December 11, 2013
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Simply stunning cutaway cross-section of the London Tube station now known as Embankment in 1914. This drawing shows the station just after the opening of the new deep tube extension of the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (now part of the Northern Line) from their previous terminus to the north at Charing Cross station. The extension was a single line that headed south from Charing Cross, looped back around underneath the Thames and had a […]

Official Map: New York/New Jersey Regional Transit Diagram – Full Review

December 10, 2013
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After our first glimpse yesterday, now it’s time for a more in-depth look at this map. Thanks to everyone who sent me a link to the PDF (and there were more than a few of you)! First things first: an MTA press release confirms that the map was designed by Yoshiki Waterhouse of Vignelli Associates. It’s definitely nice to see that the original creators of the diagram continue to shape its future, rather than being […]

Tutorial: Station Labels Using the “Core Type Area” – Part 4: Intersecting Route Lines

December 10, 2013
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Here’s the last of my tutorials regarding station label placement – what to do when route lines intersect each other. There are three standard ways that orthogonal route lines can cross each other, each illustrated below. Horizontal and Vertical Lines: The simplest intersection to deal with. Simply keep the same distance from the side and top/bottom of your label for consistent results. Vertical Line Intersecting an Angled Line (or a Horizontal Line/Angled Line): This one’s […]

Official Map: New York/New Jersey Regional Transit Diagram for 2014

December 9, 2013
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Hot off the presses via New Jersey Transit’s Twitter account, here’s a first look at a new regional transit map that (finally!) combines New Jersey Transit rail, PATH rail and the New York Subway onto one map to “facilitate ease of travel between all three systems”. It appears to be heavily based off the Massimo Vignelli “Weekender” diagram, although I don’t know if Vignelli himself (or his studio) was actually involved in the design of […]