Looks quite lovely in location… although perhaps a little small to be seen from far away.
Source: varlamov/Flickr
Photo: Porto Metro Signage
Unofficial Map: New York Regional Rail by Jake Berman, 2010
Directly related to the last post, here’s another map of greater New York’s regional rail. Designed by Jake Berman in 2010, this map takes a completely different approach to Carter’s work.
It uses colour-coding to differentiate between agencies, rather than routes, and shows services as main lines and branches, rather than showing each and every route along their entire length. This makes for a simpler-looking, more compact map, although it means that the map doesn’t even attempt to show any service patterns.
Aesthetically, the map is reminiscent of the stark, angular look favoured in the U.S. in the 1970s and early 1980s (examples here and here).
What we like: The treatment of the major hub stations on this map is lovely – the grey background simply and effectively sets them apart. Inclusion of the AirTrain lines at JFK and Newark is nicely handled, while the use of striking magenta type to call out transfers to other services is fantastic.
What we don’t like: One minor nitpick is that the western NJ Transit lines look a little cramped in comparison to other parts of the map. Also, the names of branch lines are quite small and hard to read because they’re contained within the route lines themselves.
Our rating: A completely different way of tackling the same problem as the previous map, but equally valid and attractive. I do slightly prefer being able to trace a route from one end to the other on a map, but this is still a comprehensive guide to regional rail in and around New York. Four stars.
Source: subwaymaps/Jake Berman (link no longer active)
Unofficial Map: New York Regional Rail by Carter Green
To say I’m excited to share this map with you would be an understatement.
In August, I was contacted by Carter Green, a high school student who had been inspired by my maps (especially my map of French TGV routes) and had created his own of regional rail services in and around New York City. He asked whether I would mind taking a look at it, which I did. Immediately, I was impressed with the amazing quality of the cartography, but had a few suggestions which I thought Carter could implement. He took my ideas on board, and has now got back to me with the final version – and it’s beautiful.
Have we been there? My only experience with regional rail in the New York area is a NJ Transit train from Newark Airport to Penn Station.
What we like: A nicely unified design – the whole map gives off an elegant Art Deco feel (very appropriate for New York!), courtesy of the distinctive Neutraface type family and some nice little flourishes in arrowheads and the map’s north pointer.
The use of increasingly large circles for hub stations is something that could have looked terrible, but I think Carter has actually pulled it off very well – your eye is definitely drawn to them, and it quickly gives an idea of a station’s importance.
I absolutely adore the circular treatment of routes around Philadelphia, which is new to this version of the map.
Neat integration of New York Subway interchanges.
I wish I’d thought of Carter’s solution for stations where not every train stops – white dots linked by connecting lines, as seen on the red Metro-North routes into Connecticut.
What we don’t like: Some minor, minor things. The symbols for connecting services that aren’t the Subway aren’t as effective (just three-letter abbreviations and teeny tiny airport symbols for the AirTrain services).
The curves where a route line has to “step down” to remain next to other routes on the same corridor (on the Metro-North Waterbury branch, for example) could be smoother to fit better with the graceful curves seen throughout the rest of the map.
A couple of errors that can easily be fixed: the LIRR Belmont seasonal service is shown in the legend, but not its parent Greenport branch. “AirTrain” is misspelled as “AirTran” in the legend.
Our rating: Incredibly impressive work that shows a very complex network of services from many different agencies and makes it visually compelling and informative. Did I mention Carter is still in high school? Four-and-a-half stars.
JANUARY 10, 2015: Hey, r/nyc – nice to see you all here! New York’s one of my favourite places to talk about on this site, so check out everything else Big Apple related via the “New York” tag! – Cameron
Source: Email correspondence with Carter Green
Photo: Buried Treasure!
Photo: Paris Métro Map Mosaic Wall
This has the subway mural in Brooklyn beat, I feel.
This awesome tiled map of the 13th arrondisement covers the whole wall of this building (which I’m guessing is located where the red lines on the map intersect), complete with street names, parks, and Metro stations. It looks like the route lines are neon lighting, just for that extra cool factor. The whole thing has a great 8-bit art feeling to it which I love.
Source: Pierre MM/Flickr
Photo: Where Am I Again?
A marked-up map sitting on my desk of transit projects in Seattle somehow ends up looking uncannily like the New York subway map.
“Subway” by Christoph Niemann, 2010
Forget the children, this is one of my favourite books! Buy on Amazon here (affiliate link).
Source: Greenwillow Books website – link no longer active
Stickers on the Central Line, London Underground
From the now sadly defunct “Stickers on the Central Line” Tumblr, are these hilarious and superbly executed “prank” stickers found on the London Underground. Matching the original strip map almost exactly, they instead insert something unexpected, pointed, or just plain funny.
My favourite? Change at Tottenham Court Road for a submarine to Somalia, complete with a very plausible London Underground submarine icon.
More here in this imgur album. Hat tip to Twitter user Ben Darfler.
Historical Map: Boston Commuter Rail, 1976
Here’s a fine piece of mid-1970s transit map design, showing Boston’s extensive commuter rail network. Its style is definitely in line with other North American maps of this period, including this one of Philadelphia’s SEPTA system from 1980 – sharp lines and clean typography were the order of the day back then, it seems.
Have we been there? I’ve been to Boston, but haven’t used the commuter rail system.
What we like: Clean, clear and simple. The use of the subway lines to show the extent of Boston itself is nicely handled – and even though it’s very graphically simple, there’s a couple of nice touches: the notch in the Red Line to show where the Mattapan line begins, and the thinning of the route lines for the street-running parts of the Green Line.
What we don’t like: Perhaps a missed opportunity to better indicate connections to the subway, especially at North Station, where the Green and Orange Lines both connect. As it is, it looks equally likely that the Blue Line also has a connection at North Station. However, as this is a commuter rail map, this is a minor consideration.
Some spacing issues with stations on the Rockport Line – it may be more accurate, but cramps up some names a bit too much.
Our rating: I really enjoy the simple, stark nature of mid-1970s maps, and feel there’s a lot of lessons that can be learned by current designers from them. Less can be more. Four stars.
Additional: Here’s what the same map looked like by the mid-1980s.
Source: jimboyle93/Flickr
Photo: Paris Metro Map, Line 12
Nice shallow depth of field, but was he holding the camera up way over his head to get this point of view?
Source: Cormac Phelan/Flickr