Submission – Aerial Photo of New York City with Rail Lines Superimposed 

August 8, 2013
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Fantastic work from Transit Maps reader Arnorian showing the New York Subway, PATH and NJ Transit Lines on top of an aerial photograph of central New York City. When you view a transit system like New York’s through the limitations of a small printed or on-line map (be it the official map, the Vignelli diagram or even the hybrid Kick Map), it’s easy to forget just how big and complex it is. A representation like this shows that complexity and scale to full effect, and also looks quite breathtakingly gorgeous.

Update: I’ve replaced the image with a newer version that has been amended to take into account some comments that readers have made. I’d also like to properly attribute the photographer who took the photo that the map is overlaid on: Dennis Dimick – go and check out his Flickr stream!

Source: Skyscrapercity forum thread

From the Field — Official Map: Sydney Ferries Network

July 25, 2013
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Greetings from beautiful, sunny Sydney, where I’m currently visiting family — my first time back home for six years. Of course, I can’t help but look around and see transit maps wherever I go, and here’s the one that shows the Harbour City’s extensive and under-rated ferry network.

Most notably, the map shows which wharf each ferry leaves from at Circular Quay, the main hub of the system. The importance of knowing this cannot be understated, so it’s nice to see it shown so clearly.

A little strangely, zone information is shown for the river services (west of Circular Quay), but not for the Harbour. A trip to Manly requires a MyFerry2 ticket, but that is not indicated here.

Aesthetically, the map follows pretty standard transit map rules, although there’s some weird angles on the Manly and Watsons Bay routes that detract from the look somewhat.

Our rating: competent-looking effort missing some important information. Two-and-a-half stars.

Photo – Historical Map: Pacific Electric Strip Map

July 22, 2013
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Submitted by Sam Huddy, who says:

This is a strip map of the Santa Monica Air Line that appears on several station platforms along the Expo Line in Los Angeles. As far as I know, this idea is original to the Metro era. As a work of art, the stops are unlabeled, and typical of the PE, it’s unclear what makes some stops “major” or “minor.”

Transit Maps says:

This is actually a lovely little homage from the LA Metro: acknowledging what came before them (the Expo Line utilises much of the Air Line’s original right of way) and giving it due credit. Love it!

Historical note: the Santa Monica Airline was a Pacific Electric streetcar service that ran from downtown LA to Santa Monica from 1909 to 1953.

Source: Photographed by Sam

Photo – Official Map: Bucharest Metro In-Car Strip Map

July 21, 2013
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A bit blocky and utilitarian, but has some interesting elements worthy of note. Each station icon indicates the positioning of the platforms: either two separate platforms along the side, or one island platform between the tracks – very useful information to have!

Because of the circular nature of the M1 (Yellow) Line, both Dristor 1 and Dristor 2 appear twice on the map, because the M1 line has been “flattened out” to appear in a single line.

Finally, it would seem this particular train car never serves the M2 (Blue) line, as it is not shown in full: only connections to that line are indicated on this map.

Source: Marcus Wong from Geelong/Flickr

Historical Map: General Form of Rapid Transit System, Winnipeg, 1956

July 20, 2013
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Or to give it its full title: 1956 Populations and Estimated 1981 Populations of the Four Natural Sectors of Greater Winnipeg also General Form of Rapid Transit System Designed to Meet Basic Transit Needs of 1981 Notwithstanding Street Congestion.

A lovely old planning map from the “Future Development of Public Transit in Greater Winnipeg” report by Norman D. Wilson. It shows the very general concept of a proposed rapid transit system along with the expected population growth in the greater Winnipeg area in the far-off distant future of 1981. The system – as outlined in the report, presumably – is expected to handle the transit needs of that future, “notwithstanding street congestion”.

Source: Manitoba Historical Maps/Flickr

Photo – Munich Destinations

July 19, 2013
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Absolutely superb U-Bahn line maps in Munich, Germany. Clean, sleek, minimal with information superbly delineated and defined.

Source: Woodpeckar/Flickr

Photo – Seoul Metro Pen Map

July 18, 2013
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Cute and tiny. Only possible because of the brevity of most of the station names – two to four characters only.

Source: Ti.mo/Flickr

Historical Map: Bank-Monument Tube Stations Cutaway (1990s?)

July 17, 2013
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Not a traditional transit map per se, but a stunningly beautiful technical illustration of the interlinking tubes and tunnels that form the connected Bank-Monument tube station complex in London. Built as separate stations, but linked by escalators in the 1930s (the depiction of which proved a permanent puzzle for H.C. Beck on his Tube Map), the complex is the ninth-busiest London Underground station,

What I love here is that we’re looking at over 100 years of infrastructure development: the original Monument station (first called “Eastcheap” and then “The Monument”) opened in 1884; the “City” end of the Waterloo and City Line in 1898; Bank station (named after the Bank of London) opened in 1900. Over 100 years after the first part of the complex was opened, the deep station for the DLR was completed in 1991.

Compare to a similar cutaway of the Hudson River Tubes from 1909.

Source: Original source unknown, image from skyscrapercity.com forum post

Submission – Official Map: Montreal Metro Route Direction Map

July 16, 2013
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Submitted by Sean Hunt, who says:

A (sadly, slightly blurry) image of the Montreal Metro’s maps on the platform, displaying clearly which direction the line is going as well as the time to each station along the way.

Transit Maps says:

A nice, clear way to integrate travel information for a single line into a system-wide map. Reducing the width of the lines for the other routes instantly raises the designated route (here, the Blue Line towards Snowdon) higher in the information hierarchy. The current station and the final destination are repeated in text form above and below the map for extra emphasis and the direction of travel is indicated with a Great Big Arrow. Just in case you haven’t grasped things yet, there’s a big magenta “You Are Here” starburst on the current station, which might just be taking things a little too far, in my opinion.

Historical Map: New York Metropolitan Transit Authority 1968 Plan for Rail Improvement and Transit Expansion

July 15, 2013
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Courtesy of the new and already indispensable hyperrealcartography Tumblr, here’s a simply stunning set of New York transit planning maps from the late 60s.

In this modern age of computer-aided map design, a lot of time can be spent trying to digitally replicate this watercolour look, but it’s hard to beat the real thing (although Stamen’s lovely map tiles do a pretty good job!).

The north pointer – successfully and cleverly integrating the then-brand-new MTA logo – is also worthy of note.

Source: hyperrealcartography