Historical Map: Original 1967 Boston MBTA “Spider” Map with 1980s Additions

September 18, 2013
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What we have here is a 100-percent original 1967 Boston MBTA “spider map” as designed by Cambridge 7 Associates, but with some very unofficial later additions.

The minor additions are the lengthening of two names on the Red Line to later versions – “Kendall” becomes “Kendall/MIT” and “Charles” is now “Charles/MGH”. No problems there. The real eye-opener is the addition of the Red Line extension past Harvard to Alewife. The sticker used has discoloured relative to the rest of the map, so the amendment is very easy to spot.

Now, this extension was fully open in 1985, so let’s date the additions to then. The rest of the map still dates from 1967, so huge parts of it are now horribly out of date. Green Line “A” branch to Watertown? Closed in 1969. Orange Line Charlestown Elevated to Everett? Demolished in 1975. Nothing shown for the Braintree branch of the Red Line, which was well and truly open for service by 1985.

The southern leg of the Orange Line – the Washington Street Elevated – is still accurate for this time period, as it wasn’t torn down until 1987. And we’ll give the “E” branch extending to Arborway and “Washington” station the benefit of the doubt: they both changed in 1985 as well. Still, this map must have been totally confusing for anyone trying to actually use it to get around!

However, this map continues a fine Boston tradition of adding information to old system maps: see here and here. 

Source: Boston Andy on Twitter

Historical Map: Washington, DC Metro Map, 1981

September 17, 2013
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Enough of all this talk about the new DC Metro map; here’s another old one for you – and this one’s a bit of an oddity. An inspection of the southern leg of the Green Line shows that the terminus was then planned to be at Rosecroft, not Branch Avenue. The preceding station shown, St. Barnabas Road, was also never constructed

The photos of the map were sent to me by Mark Greenwald, who says that these maps were on trains for less than a year – presumably because of the numerous legal issues surrounding the eventual routing of the Green Line, which you can read more about on Wikipedia.

Another oddity – Union Station is still labelled as “Union Station – Visitor Center” long after the ill-fated National Visitor Center closed its doors in 1978.

See other early DC Metro maps: 1976 and 1977.

Historical Map: Aerial View of the Puget Sound Area, Washington, c. 1940

September 17, 2013
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An old postcard showing a colorised aerial photo of Seattle and the Puget Sound. Points of interest and the ferry routes of the era (pre-Washington State Ferries, which only commenced service in 1951) have then been added to the image.

It’s these ferry routes which allow us to date this charming postcard to somewhere between 1935 and 1942. The little Fletcher Bay to Brownsville ferry route (centre left on the photo) only operated between 1924 and 1942, while the Colman Dock (Seattle) to Manchester route only ran after 1935, when the old eastern terminus dock at Alki Point washed out.

Source: alanp_photo/Flickr (link no longer active)

Submission – Offical Map: Water Transport Routes, St. Petersburg, Russia

September 16, 2013
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Submitted by nelequetan.

Here’s a very pleasant map that shows the “Akvabusy” water transportation routes in St. Petersburg, Russia, which were introduced only a few years ago in 2010. The service only runs from the end of May until October each year as the city’s rivers and canals all freeze over in winter. The fleet – as shown at the bottom of the map – consists of everything from small 12-seat water taxis all the way up to 120-seat hydrofoils that can reach speeds of 65km/h.

The map itself is very clearly laid out and makes good use of 30/60 degree angles to represent the islands and canals of the city. This does make the one really odd angle – on the blue Central Line to the east of the Summer Garden stop – stand out like a sore thumb, however. I’m also not sure that the little “flick” in the red Kurortnaya line as it nears Kronstadt (in the map’s inset) is really necessary.

The map also has other useful information: the distance to nearby Metro stations is marked where appropriate (although 1,100 metres – over a kilometre! – is hardly a “short walk”), as are the names of the city’s famous bridges, both of which are great for general orientation and getting around.

My one main problem with this map is that the type is tiny and very hard to read. All the iterations I’ve seen are online bitmap graphics with a maximum width of just 1000px or so. A lot of the type, especially the English subtitle labelling, is almost impossible to make out at that resolution.

Our rating: Looks good, contains useful information, but teeny-tiny type lets it down somewhat. Three stars.

Source: Transport in St. Petersburg website – link no longer active

Official Map: Timetable/Service Frequency Map, S-Bahn RheinNeckar, Germany

September 16, 2013
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Here’s an interesting little map from one of Germany’s newest S-Bahn networks (established in 2003): a system map combined with some basic timetable information, which in turn illustrates how the lines interweave traffic to create higher frequency service along the central spine of the network.

The map only shows major or interchange stations: enough to give a sense of timing without overwhelming the map with too much information. As you can see, each route only has one train per hour in each direction, but these combine to create service with four or even five trains an hour in each direction between Schifferstadt and Heidelberg stations.

The map itself is fairly basic, but it does the job it’s designed to do.

One final point of interest: the compression of the routes into this simplified map give no real idea of the incredible length of the S1 line: at 200 kilometres (124 miles) and 51 stations, it’s one of the longest S-Bahn lines in Germany. If you count out the stops using the timetable information above, it would take almost four and a half hours to travel its entire length.

Our rating: a bare bones approach to combining timetable information with a basic system map. Not much to look at, and not a complete replacement for the map of the whole system. Interesting, nonetheless. Two-and-a-half-stars.

Source: S-Bahn RheinNeckar website – link no longer active

Submission – Official Map: Szeged, Hungary, 2013

September 15, 2013
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Submitted by fuckyeahgmetro, who says:

Hi, this is the official map of SzKT, the company running trams and trolley buses in the Hungarian city Szeged. I think it is in a very good place to run for the worst transit map “designed” ever!

Transit Maps says:

I’ll certainly agree that this map is really quite atrocious. But it’s not even really close to the very worst transit maps out there.

It’s certainly a lazy, slipshod effort — looking like some bad Photoshop/MS Paint work superimposed on a fairly standard map of the city. The labelling is extremely poor, with type in many different sizes and at completely random angles to fit it all in. The symbols for stations are also pretty ugly, especially in the sections where three or more routes share the same track.

Despite all this, it’s still actually possible to work out what’s going on fairly easily — possibly only because it’s a small and basic system — and this is what saves it from joining the ranks of the absolute worst maps.

The other thing I note looking at this system is how well it would translate into a circular diagrammatic map, which seem to be all the rage these days. The orbital nature of the city’s streets and the “spokes” of the main routes would actually make this an appropriate design decision, instead of simply being a design affectation.

Our rating: Pretty darn bad, but not as bad as some. Half a star.

Source: Official SzKT website

Historical Map: Société des Transports en Commun de la Région Parisienne – Réseau Tramways Banlieue, 1921

September 13, 2013
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Transport in Paris these days is so inextricably linked to the image of the ubiquitous Metro, that it’s very easy to forget that it once had an extensive network of trams spreading far out into the suburbs. Fancy catching a tram from the Louvre to all the way to Versailles along the banks of the Seine? You could back in 1921, when this gorgeous map was produced.

At this time, all the many competing tram and omnibus companies in and around Paris had just been merged into the Société des Transports en Commun de la Région Parisienne (STCRP), in effect, an early predecessor to today’s RATP.

The map itself is simply beautiful, with excellent and intelligent use of a limited colour palette – a range of hatching and stipple effects introduce some subtle, but informational, texture to the map. Even though the route lines are all in red, they’re easy to follow from end to end, thanks to some nice spacing between parallel routes, and helpful but unobtrusive route numbers along the lines. Interestingly, the Metro is not shown at all, but the main railway stations are.

Also shown are the extensive 19th century fortifications around Paris: not only the about-to-be-demolished Thiers Wall (also shown on this 1913 Metro map), but the myriad of forts in the surrounding countryside, like the Fort de l’Est near St. Denis in the picture above.

Our rating: Simply beautiful and stylish: couldn’t be more Parisian if it tried. 5 stars!

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Subte Map, Buenos Aires, 2001

September 13, 2013
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Nice shot of the distinctive Subte map in situ. Opened in 1913, the Subte is the oldest underground system in the Southern Hemisphere.

Source: sftrajan/Flickr

Unofficial Map: Boston “T” Map Made From Pipe Cleaners

September 11, 2013
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In a similar vein to this London Tube Map made from paperclips, here’s a perfect little Boston “T” map made from other innocuous household objects. Created by the very talented Andy Woodruff of Axis Maps and Bostonography, who obviously had way too much spare time on his hands one day.