All posts filed under: Unofficial Maps

Unofficial Map: Circular Tube Map by Maxwell Roberts

January 30, 2013
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Apparently, circular Tube Maps are like London buses – none come forever, then two arrive at the same time. This one is by Maxwell Roberts, an expert on the London Underground map if there ever was one. He’s personally redrawn multiple, multiple versions of the map in just about every possible configuration, just to see what works and what doesn’t. Many are featured in his excellent book, Underground Maps Unravelled, which I promise I’ll review properly […]

Unofficial Map: “Orbital” London Underground Map by Jonny Fisher

January 28, 2013
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Here’s an interesting new look at the London Underground from architect/designer/writer Jonny Fisher. It’s always fun when someone reinterprets something as well known as this: every designer approaches the same problem differently. For me, this map isn’t wholly successful, but it’s definitely thought-provoking. Have we been there? Yes. What we like: A bold attempt at a redesign of possibly the most well-known transit map of all. The “orbital” theme actually makes a lot of sense: […]

Potential Official Maps? Finalists for the new Moscow Metro Map

January 20, 2013
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Further to my post regarding the unofficial “guerrilla” Moscow Metro map, Twitter correspondent @dars_dm has given me links to the maps produced by the three finalists in the official competition for a new Metro Map. I’ve reproduced them here for your edification. In order, they’re produced by Artemy Lebedev, Ilya Birman and Anton Mizinov and are all very strong in their own way. I’ll confess that I’ve had a huge soft spot for the Lebedev […]

All About the Guerrilla Moscow Metro Map – in English!

January 18, 2013
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My previous post about the “map bombing” of the Moscow Metro has had a lot of interest, so I thought I’d pass on the fact that the original partizaning.org article about it has been translated properly into English on their site. Well worth a read. And as a bonus, you can download your own PDF of the map, or the Illustrator .ai file and fonts required to edit it yourself.

Unofficial Map: Partizaning.org “Guerrilla” Moscow Metro Map

January 12, 2013
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Last year, the Moscow Metro introduced a completely new official map, which featured 30-degree angles. Put simply, it went down like a lead balloon (link in Russian), forcing the authorities to hastily organise a competition for another brand new design. However, some people decided they didn’t want to enter what’s essentially a no-spec design “contest” (there’s no payment for the winner, just thanks for a job well done) and set about designing their own map independently… […]

Unofficial Interactive Map: Annual Passenger Entries into the Paris Metro (2011)

January 8, 2013
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A nicely executed interactive map of total annual passenger entries into the Paris Metro system. “Entries” are simply defined as a ticket validation at the relevant station. Even in my static screenshot, the enormous quantities of people that enter the Metro at the main railway stations of Paris – the Gare du Nord, Saint-Lazare, Gare de Lyon and Montparnasse-Bienvenue – can be clearly seen. There’s a staggering 48 million entries each year at the Gare […]

Unofficial Map: Boston MBTA Commuter Rail Time-Scale Map

January 8, 2013
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We’ve previously featured Stonebrown Design’s time-scale Boston Subway Map (Aug. 2012, 3.5 stars) – now they’ve produced a map for Boston’s extensive commuter rail network along the same lines. To my mind, this map is even more successful for a couple of reasons: firstly, the time rings are completely concentric, which makes the map easier to read and looks more aesthetically pleasing. It’s interesting to see how fare zones don’t necessarily correspond to the amount […]

Boston MBTA Green Line Average Weekday Traffic (2010) by Barrett Lane

January 4, 2013
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Wednesday’s post, Subterranean Veins of Europe, and its discussion of design choices distorting data reminded me of this map/graph sent to me by Barrett Lane last year. At first glance, this is a really neat and cleverly devised concept: the ridership numbers for each station on Boston’s Green Line are presented in the form of a stylised map of the lines, with vertical bars representing those numbers. It looks great, there’s some solid data behind […]

Unofficial Map: Metro-North Railroad, New York by Robert O’Connell

January 3, 2013
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Transit maps on Wikipedia can be a bit of a mixed bag. Anyone can contribute, so the quality can range from mediocre to awesome. However, Robert McConnell –also known as “the Port of Authority” – consistently produces some fantastic work. We’ve previously featured his Boston MBTA Commuter Rail map (October 2011, 5 stars), and here’s another fantastic piece. We’ve also featured unofficial maps that show all commuter and regional rail out of New York before […]

Infographic: Subterranean Veins of Europe

January 2, 2013
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Here’s an interesting “map” of Europe’s subway systems that was originally featured in a weekly cultural supplement to Milan’s Corriere Della Sera newspaper. The map looks fantastic, and allows all sorts of comparisons between the underground rail systems of Europe, from cost of tickets (cleverly shown as a blue ring of differing thicknesses: the thicker the ring, the more expensive a ticket is), users per day, total length of each system and even a simple chronological […]