Official Map: Metropolitana di Napoli, 2012 (1 of 2)

August 21, 2012
comments 2
Filed Under:
Official Maps
Tags:

Following on from the last post, here’s a map of Naples’ Metro system. Strangely, there are two completely different maps of the system available on the official MetroNapoli website: probably because different transit agencies control different lines. MetroNapoli runs only Lines 1 and 6 and Naples’ extensive funicular system, which is what is shown on this map. I’ll cover the other map, which does show all services in Naples as a unified map in my next post.

Have we been there? Yes, in 2003. Almost predictably, there was a massive public transportation strike the very first day I was there. Fortunately, it was resolved the next day, so I could catch the Circumvesuviana train (not shown on this map) out to Pompeii and Herculaneum, both of which are incredible archaeological sites.

What we like: Comprehensive and nicely laid out legend, including something I’ve never seen on a transit map before – the location of the IHA hostel! To be fair, I have heard that the hostel in Naples is pretty darn pimping… although it’s currently impossible to get to it from Napoli Centrale station using the transport shown on this map.

I like the idea of the notches out of the route lines to indicate stations – it’s a distinctive visual device, but I’m just not sure it’s executed particularly well in this instance.

What we don’t like: Randomly angled route lines throughout: the extension of Line 1 ends up looking like some sort of crazy race track!

Strange colour choices – the salmon used for the funiculars is especially odd, while the grey used for the names of planned stations is almost unreadable in some places.

Labeling is a bit ugly and intrusive: the giant labels for the names of the funicular lines being the worst offender. Not too sure about the very severe, angular font used, either.

Our rating: Strange, random and chaotic: a fairly accurate depiction of the city itself, in my experience. 1 star.

Source: Official MetroNapoli website – link no longer active

Photo: Napoli Metro Line 2 Diagram

August 19, 2012
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Photography
Tags:

There’s something just so very Naples about this map.

Source: eddrass/Flickr

Photo: Boston Subway Map Design Modification

August 17, 2012
comment 1
Filed Under:
Photography
Tags:

Eh, who needs new maps anyway?

The photo is from 2010, so I also wonder if a more permanent addition to the map has been made since then.

Source: pjsherman/Flickr

Photo: U2 – U5 – U8

August 16, 2012
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Official Maps, Photography
Tags:

Lovely set of wayfinding strip maps from Berlin. The current station, Alexanderplatz, is subtly highlighted with a grey box behind its name. I really like the way that station names are all to the right of each line, with connections shown to the left – an excellent and consistent division of information to make wayfinding easier.

Source: manganite/Flickr

Unofficial Map: Boston Subway Time-Scale Map

August 15, 2012
comment 1
Filed Under:
Unofficial Maps, Visualizations
Tags:

Peter Dunn from Stonebrown Design sent this map to me this morning for my thoughts, and it’s definitely worth looking at. You may recall that Peter is also responsible for this neat “subway map” of the Appalachian Trail, previously featured on Transit Maps.

Visually, this map reminds me of this unofficial map of Amsterdam’s Metro – mainly because of the unusual radial design and the treatment of bodies of water. However, this map arguably puts that radial design to better use: to represent time from the central “hub” of Boston, allowing a quick and easy visual comparison of journey times.

Have we been there? Yes. However, Lechmere to Government Center took considerably longer than eight minutes when I was using the Green Line.

What we like: The treatment of the four downtown stations – Park, Government Center, State and Downtown Crossing – is beautifully done: it fits the “hub” theme well and looks good doing it.

Map emulates the look of the real Boston map nicely, even though the format is quite different.

Love the statement in the legend: “All times are approximate; your results may vary. Especially on the Green Line.”

What we don’t like: As the map moves further away from the central hub, the time contours start deforming in order to fit things in. This is a pity, because the map works best (and looks better) where the contour lines form proper concentric rings. Compare how the station labels on the Red Line out to Alewife curve neatly with the time contours, while the station labels on the “B” branch of the Green Line don’t really match up with the contours at all.

The contours themselves could perhaps use a few more of their own labels for minutes: you have to scan a long way round from the southern Orange Line to find one!

Our rating: Leaving aside accuracy of the data used to create this map (some of these times do seem a little on the optimistic side, but if that’s what the timetable says…), this is still a very impressive piece of work, and an interesting alternative view of a familiar rapid transit system. I feel the map could look even nicer if the time contours formed concentric rings all the way out – time is a constant, after all! Three-and-a-half stars.

Source: Stonebrown Design

Photo: Můstek

August 14, 2012
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Photography
Tags:

Detail of a Line A strip map in Prague.

Source: daveglanz/Flickr

Historical Map: Tokyo by Richard Saul Wurman, 1984

August 13, 2012
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Historical Maps
Tags:

Thanks to Chris Helenius for bringing this amazing map by Richard Saul Wurman (founder of the TED Conference amongst other things) to my attention. In the course of research for this post, I also discovered that Mr. Wurman was responsible for these beautiful maps of Philadelphia from the book Man-Made Philadelphia: still the most-visited post on Transit Maps by far.

But onto the map itself.

Firstly, this is not a map of the Tokyo subway, as many commentaries that I have come across state. It actually shows two lines of the JR East rapid transit network that very cleverly help to define “Tokyo”: the circular loop Yamanote Line, and the cross-town Chūō-Sōbu Line. The stations along the Yamanote Line all have points of interest listed, while the Imperial Palace complex is shown for reference within the circle.

Secondly, this is beautiful. Abstracted, clarified, simplified information. Five stars.

Source: Edge-Serpentine-Maps Gallery

Historical Map: Sydney Buses CBD Map, 2000

August 13, 2012
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Historical Maps, Unofficial Maps
Tags:

From the back of a Gregory’s Street Directory by the look of things, and very much in their house style. I’m not sure this map is actually helping things that much: Sydney’s labyrinthine network of streets is partially to blame, but the flow of arrows and lines could also be much clearer.

The strange decision to make the background black for the second half of the suburb list (to the right of the map) has the unfortunate side effect of making that half look like a list of night time services.

The other thing to note is that there is a ridiculous number of bus routes serving downtown Sydney.

Source: Nick (kypros1992)/Flickr – link no longer active

Advertisement: Metrovalencia Map for Air Travelers

August 12, 2012
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Advertising
Tags:

One of a series of nifty advertisements for the Metro system in Valencia, Spain. This one highlights the system’s connections to the airport (via Lines 3 and 5); I’ve also seen other ones that form the shape of a shopping bag (to showcase the connections to the shopping districts of the city), and a bicycle (to indicate that bicycles can be taken on the system).

These ads all tie into a previous iteration of the Metrovalencia map (this photo is from 2010), which has since made the switch from a diagram to a geographically accurate map (coming up in a future post).

Source: Andrey Belenko/Flickr