Nice shot of an in-car strip map from Milan.
Source: roboppy/Flickr
Photo: Linea 1
Photo: Moscow Metro Map
Being studied very intently by the man on the right. Looks like a tour group is coming through from the left…
Source: cam17/Flickr
Photo: Tactile
I absolutely love this photo. You can see where countless fingers have traced paths on this map, resting on popular locations and wearing the paper through. This is a map that has been used, and I think it’s fantastic.
Source: tjhallett1/Flickr
Official Map: Metropolitana di Napoli, 2012 (2 of 2)
As promised, here’s the second map of Naples’ Metro system. Unlike the previous example, this one shows all of the rail transit options available in the city, which presents a much more complete picture.
Like the previous map, this map also presents something that I’ve never seen before on a transit map: a “Rainbow Line” (arcobaleno in Italian), where each station on the line is assigned its own colour. However, this map and station signage don’t seem to agree on what those colours are.
What we like: A much cleaner and more modern-looking map, definitely much easier on the eye.
What we don’t like: Lower-case station and line name labels – yuck! The centred station names at the northern end of Line 1 look a bit strange. The map is going to have to be reconfigured when the extension of Line 1 from Universita to Garibaldi/Stazione Centrale opens: there’s currently no room at all for that part of the line to fit in. The slight angle of the Mergellina funicular line seems a little at odds with the rest of the map.
Our rating: Much better, although by no means perfect. Shows the benefit to the end user of presenting all rail transit as a unified map, regardless of operator. 3 stars.
Source: Official Metronapoli website – link no longer active
Official Map: Metropolitana di Napoli, 2012 (1 of 2)
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
Photo: Boston Subway Map Design Modification
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
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
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
