About the only thing as good as actual transit maps is books about transit maps (and/or wayfinding design)! Here’s a selection of great reads for the map lover in your life! Transit Maps of the World, November 2015 Edition by Mark Ovenden – a book that needs no further introduction to readers of this blog (My review here). A fantastic update to an already superb book. Buy on Amazon here. London Underground by Design by […]
Submitted by Mike Syyap, who says: The TTC recently had a board meeting, and they revealed what the the future map from 2021 would look like. They still haven’t decided on the what the name will be for an existing station (Eglinton West) which will be a big interchange. Between the the road name choice (Allen) and the neighbourhood choice (Cedarvale), I prefer the road name since a big majority of the name are already […]
Submitted by Michael, who says: Today, I would like to submit a different sort of map. Most time scale maps that I have seen so far (such as this one or this one) involve two common elements: a central station or origin, and concentric circles representing time. Though I believe that both of these are very good maps, this approach might be better suited to a city like Pittsburgh (where nearly everyone commutes to the […]
Seeing as I’m just back from the Big Apple, and as Tommi has now put his awesome map up on Society6 for sale, I thought this would be a good place to launch Transit Maps’ inaugural “Holiday Gift Guide”! Although Society6 offers prints in many sizes, I would definitely only purchase either the large ($39) or extra-large ($52) prints, due to the fine detail and small type in this map. Click here to see the product […]
It’s always fun to do a “before and after” comparison, and here’s a fantastic example of how a well-drawn diagrammatic map can offer enhanced system legibility over a more geographically-based map. The old map (top), dating from October 2014, is pretty terrible work. Towns and cities are in the right geographical location, but are simply joined by straight lines, which creates a difficult-to-read “spider web” of interconnecting and overlapping routes. Rail lines are shown as both purple […]
Submitted by SounderBruce, who says: Sound Transit has put up the first of the new Link Light Rail maps in its trains here in Seattle, featuring the new “Red Line” branding that will be phased in by the time the second line (the Blue Line, formerly East Link) opens in 2023. The two “Coming Soon” signs are covering 3 new stations that are opening in 2016, extending the existing line up to the Univ. of […]
Follow along – hopefully I’ll have lots of great transit-related photos from my trip to New York next week to share. I’ll also be adding some great detail photos of old maps and work-in-progress snapshots of new projects as I work on them. Transit Maps Instagram
Question: How do you decide on the overall dimensions and aspect ratio when creating a new map? Answer: For my personal map projects, the aspect ratio is the first thing I decide upon. I generally try to stick with standard formats that are compatible with framing – these being 1:1 (square), and 3:2 or 4:3 rectangles. Generally, I use 3:2 the most – 36″ x 24″ and 24″ x 16″ are great finished sizes and […]
Brought to my attention by Russell Morris on Twitter, this is a new official TfL map that shows the approximate walking time between London Underground stations in Zones 1 and 2. While it’s nice to see that TfL has recognised the desire from the public for alternative maps of the network (see also the recent official TfL “geographic” map), this is about as low budget as a “new” map could possibly be. It’s basically Zones 1 […]
Here’s an absolutely superb piece of interactive mapping that overlays the routes of the Pacific Electric streetcar system (the “Red Cars”) onto a modern Google aerial map of the greater Los Angeles area. That’s interesting enough by itself, but this map goes further, and pinpoints the still-extant remnants of this once-great network – stations, uncovered sections of old track, power substations, railway bridges and more – and has photographs from many of these locations. It’s wonderfully […]
