Author: Cameron Booth

Photo – Official Map: Montreal Metro Map, 2016

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Official Maps

Spotted and photographed in the real world by long-time correspondent, Richard Archambault, who doesn’t hold back with his opinion in this tweet: Transit Maps says: I first heard that this map was getting a makeover back in October 2015, but said at the time that I would reserve my judgement until I saw the final map. This new version oddly isn’t yet posted on the STM’s website, so Richard’s photo will have to do, although […]

Historical Map: British Airways Worldwide Route Network, 1975

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Historical Maps

Via: airlinemaps: A vintage British Airways worldwide map from 1975, just a year after the carrier was just created through the merger of BOAC and British European Airways (BEA). This map is a fantastic airline-meets-railway design that could be on the Transit Maps blog. Routes to destinations connect to main trunk lines that by and far lead to London, more like the current British National Rail map than an airline route map. By not including any landmasses, BA […]

Historical Map: Bus Map of Tokyo, c. 1950

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Historical Maps

Not a lot of geographical context here, although the central hub is pretty easy to discern. Does good work differentiating lines with a limited colour palette. Can anyone translate the legend at right that shows dashed/thin/thick lines? Is this an early attempt at frequency mapping? Note: Thanks to all who have told me that the lines are thick for express routes, thin for normal routes, and dashed for “special” routes. So it’s service mapping, not frequency. […]

Historical Map: Poster Promoting the Bakerloo Line Extension to Stanmore, 1939

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Advertising, Historical Maps

By the mid-1930s, the London Underground’s Metropolitan line was suffering from congestion caused by the limited capacity of its tracks between Baker Street and Finchley Road stations. To relieve this pressure, a tunnel was constructed between the Bakerloo line’s platforms at Baker Street and Finchley Road and three Metropolitan line stations (Lord’s, Marlborough Road and Swiss Cottage) were replaced with two new Bakerloo stations (St. John’s Wood and Swiss Cottage). The Bakerloo line took over […]

Update: The City of Luxembourg Adopts Jug Cerovic’s Bus Map!

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Official Maps

Jug writes: Hi Cameron, I have got some great news from the “maps as works of art” front: Since yesterday Luxembourg has a brand new official bus map! Since last summer I have been working with the City of Luxembourg to adapt my map to their particular needs and now it is going live. The main features of the map are: Geographic centre/schematic outskirts The pentagonal Old Town (Ville Haute) as a symbolic landmark in […]

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

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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

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Historical Maps

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

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Historical Maps

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

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Miscellany

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

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Historical Maps

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 […]