Submission – Japanese Shinkansen Network Diagram by Jug Cerovic

April 26, 2019
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Submitted by Jug, who says:

I’d like to submit a map I have been working on for quite some time and finally completed. It’s a diagram of the Shinkansen high speed train network in Japan. As the network is basically one main trunk line going from Kyushu to Hokkaido and several spurs it makes sense to show it in a schematic way. Also high speed makes geography and distance almost irrelevant.

One will easily notice that the 4 main Japanese islands together form roughly a quarter of a circle while the national flag of Japan features a full red disc. Combine both and you get the foundations for a schematic representation of Japan. Add city names, in Japanese and English, and all train services (express, limited express, local) with their own dedicated names et voilà! You get a complete map of all Shinkansen services, no stop no dot, with a very, very iconic feel.

There is also another small diagram below showing the names of the track portions: Hokkaido, Tohoku, Tokaido… I hope you’ll like it!

Transit Maps says:

Another interesting project from the prolific Jug! I really love the stylised, graphical feel to this diagram: the stark red, black and white design is very striking, and the quarter rising sun leaves the reader in very little doubt as to what network is being represented!

The sweeping arc of the main trunk line is masterful: all the stations are spaced precisely one degree around the circle from each other, with their common centre point being the very top left corner of the map. Because of this, the station names seem to radiate evenly out from the edge of the circle: a nice effect. Perhaps strangely, this radial nature doesn’t extend to the lines that head inland, which all use a common 37-degree angle (the angle that Omiya, the first station with a branch line extending from it, is at). The first group of lines doesn’t look so bad, as they all head generally towards the top left corner, but the last branch line to Akita is at a very different angle to the radial type around the circle’s edge, and looks oddly skewed as a result. To be fair, it’s probably like this for a very practical reason as it allows station labels to fit into the spaces between the lines more easily, but I’d love to see a truly radial version of this diagram. I’ve quickly superimposed some blue lines on Jug’s map below to give an idea of what that could look like.

A few more notes: the text on Jug’s project page explains that the popular Japan Rail Pass is not accepted on the fastest Nozomi and Mizuho trains, but this useful information isn’t present on the map itself. Similarly, the station names shown to the north of Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto to Sapporo are part of a future expansion of the network, but no explanation to that effect appears on the map. I’m all for minimalism, but some things do need just a little more explanation.

Finally, a technical note: the white text reversed out of the red background is very fine and would be prone to filling in when printed. It’s often a good idea to bump the font weight up a level when reversing type, or to use a typeface that has positive and negative versions, each tailored for specific applications.

The final word: A strong graphical concept, very well executed. My personal preference would be for the whole diagram to continue on with the radial theme, but I feel sure that Jug explored that option during development before coming up with the solution he felt worked best.

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Source: Jug’s project page, and via email

Official Map: Integrated Mobility Map of Mexico City, 2019

April 17, 2019
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I’ve had quite a few requests to review this new map out of Mexico City, so here goes…

The first thing to note is that Lance Wyman, the designer of the original Mexico City Metro logo and much of the design language of that system (the original station icons and the distinctive Tipo Metro typeface, for example) was involved in this work, though I’m not certain as to what extent. Certainly, the Movilidad Integrada “MI” logo to the top left of the map bears all the hallmarks of his work, and it’s this logo that pulls all the branding together.

The surrounding arrows, moving both in and out and to all compass directions, utilize the colours of the eight component parts that make up the integrated system – Concesionado, Cablebús, CETRAM, Metrobús, Ecobici, RTP, Transportes Eléctricos, and the Metro itself. As seen in the tweet by the Secretary of Integrated Mobility embedded below, the logos of these services have been reworked to fit inside the shape made by the new MI logo – a rounded square with triangular notches cut out of each side. I’m also guessing that the line weight of each of the logos has been worked on to make them all consistent.

In principle, it’s a good way to unify these disparate and varied logos, though I’m more than a little sad that the iconic shape of the Metro logo is now boxed into another less interesting shape. The price to pay for unity?

These notches are repeated as a framing design element across the map: the map itself has notches in its border, as do all the service information boxes below it, except for the two rightmost ones. These are services that are shown on the map (the Tren Suburbano and Mexibús), but that are not part of the MI group, so it’s actually a pretty clever design feature. Their boxes are also light grey instead of white, which helps to further differentiate them.

But what of the map itself?

For starters, it’s diagrammatic instead of geographical like the official Metro map – which I’ve previously likened to “a giant pile of spaghetti” (December 2015, 1.5 stars) – which I think helps enormously to untangle the heavily congested central part of the map. And if this map only showed the Metro and other rail services, I’d probably see it as a huge improvement and call the redesign largely successful.

But! – it also has to incorporate all the other services that make it a truly integrated map, and it deals with some far more successfully than others. Some, like the Tren Ligero and the Tren Suburbano, act as extensions of the Metro network and are integrated easily. The Metrobús services also get treated fairly well, with route numbers and intermediate stops indicated, although the MB4 route is often obscured in the central part of the map by other elements like station names. Finally, the trolleybus and RTP buses are right at the bottom of the information hierarchy and only have general paths shown without any route designations at all. It’s just enough information to let a reader know that these services exist, but is it useful enough to aid in travel planning? I have my doubts.

My biggest problem with the map, however, would have to be the labelling of stations. While Tipo Metro is a wonderfully distinctive typeface and a huge part of the Metro’s identity, I find it particularly unsuitable as a wayfinding typeface. It’s a very wide font, and has a lot of very similar letterforms because of its caps-only form. On this map, it’s also tiny. The official PDF of the map is set up to be slightly less than 36″ wide by 48″ deep (90cm x 120cm), yet the characters for standard labels are just 0.08 inches tall (or about 6 points!). That’s absolutely minuscule, and some labels – such as those for the bus routes – are even smaller. The lack of ascenders and descenders does mean that the labels can be set very compactly – forming neat, uniform blocks – but if the type isn’t legible, is that actually useful?

For the most part, I don’t mind the angled labels – they only go one direction and give a distinctive angularity to the map – but they are a bit inconsistent in places. They’re angled on the northern end of Metro Line B, for example, but horizontal on a corresponding section of the Tren Suburbano.

Some other nice touches: the little cartouches around the bike station icons. The half-thickness of the one-way parts of the bus lines. Excellent use of white keylines to separate different layers of information.

Our rating: A real mixed bag. Any attempt to present an integrated view of transit in a sprawling metropolis like Mexico City should be applauded, but I’m not sure this one totally hits its mark. The overall branding is lovely, but truly integrated transit is more than just branding. Two-and-a-half stars.

Source: Mexico City Metro website

Submission – Unofficial Map: A Transit Map for Parents by Hilário de Sousa

April 16, 2019
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Submitted by Hilário, who says:

Recently I was back in Auckland, after not having been there for years. I discovered that my parents have never caught the bus there; this is despite them living close to reasonable bus routes, and – as senior citizens – having free public transport most of the time. (They are not against public transport; they are just migrants who were never shown how to look up public transport information.) So I tried to get them interested in catching the bus, “You can get to and from home for FREE!”, and I drew them an A4 schematic map of the public transport services in their world.

The map is geared towards just these two people. (I should have done it in my parents’ languages, but… I was basically too lazy to do it in languages other than English.) During my time with them I observed the range of places that they might need to go to, and facilities that they might need, e.g. medical facilities, closer-by shopping centres, public toilets. I have only included lines that they are likely to need, as I didn’t want to clutter the map any further. (For other lines, they can look them up in the official network maps.)

How much each transport hub/station is visually accentuated in the map is based more on its saliency in their lives, and less on its actual size. As for the line colours, I followed the line colours as used by Auckland Transport, so sometimes I could not avoid placing lines with similar colours next to each other. (As for the train lines, I used hues from an older version of the official train network map, to make them somewhat more distinctive from the adjacent bus line colours.) Frequency of the services is indicated by line width and dash style. The apartness of the bus versus train lines at Newmarket and Sylvia Park is iconic of their actual distance. There are also two small circular areas of which the representations are geographically true, and all the bus stops within are shown: these are areas where they need to know the exact location of bus stops.

(They were very happy when I took them on buses, trains, and the ferry, all of them free to them off-peak.)

Transit Maps says:

This is such a heart-warming story, Hilário — thank you for sharing it! Being able to take your design skills and create something so personal and useful to your parents, giving them the confidence to use public transport in their daily lives… it’s just wonderful (I’m not crying, you’re crying!).

What I particularly like is the amount of tailored information that’s there just for your parents: where they get haircuts, where the shops are, where public restrooms can be found, as well as all the hints and tips aimed at helping them find their way confidently. The two detailed insets have just the right amount of information and are integrated into the main map nicely. I also really appreciate that the map isn’t over-designed: this isn’t some fancy piece of high art, but a simple, easy-to-read tool that’s completely appropriate for its (very specific) target market.

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Fantasy Map: A Tube Map of Shared Words by Ali Carr

April 15, 2019
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I’ve featured a lot of alternative London Underground maps on the site over the years, but this one has to be the most delightfully bonkers one yet and I love it. Each line on the map consists only of stations that share part of their name with each other: so there’s a line for all the stations which have “Park” in their name, for “North”, “South” and other directions and so on. Interchanges occur when a station name contains two different shared elements: “Wood Green” is on both the Wood line and the Green line, for example.

It’s all rather clever, if not exactly useful for any purpose apart from being clever, but I do appreciate the attention to detail. There’s even an “Ampersand” line, as there’s a surprisingly large number of stations that feature one (six, to be precise). The Heathrow Terminal stations get a special double line, as all their names feature both “Heathrow” and “Terminal”. There are five odd-ball lines off to the bottom left that follow the rules but don’t interchange with the main interconnected system, which look a bit strange at first glance. However, they’re probably dealt with as best they can be.

Ali’s rules for inclusion are pretty simple: Underground stations only (no Overground, Tfl Rail, tram or Air Line stations here), and only full words get lines (so there’s no lines for recurring suffixes or prefixes like -gate, -ton, or wood-). There’s one slight exception I can see where “Northwood Hills” (plural) sneaks onto the “Hill” (singular) line, presumably in order to add the one station “Northwood” spur. Of the 267 unique Underground station names, 172 appear on this map, which is impressive!

Head on over Ali’s blog to read more about the project, as well as many, many other Tube map variants.

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Source: Not Quite Tangible

Submission – Official Map: JR West Kakogawa Line Strip Map, Japan

April 5, 2019
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Submitted by Jason H., who says:

Hi! I’m currently living in Japan for a year as an exchange student, and I’ve come across many train maps here (of course), and I actually originally found your website from the JR West system map you posted many years ago. (It has been updated, with a few route changes but also more colors if you want to check it again).

Here is a picture I took of a map from inside the trains on the JR West Kakogawa Line, a suburban/rural line around Kobe and Osaka. I apologize that it’s only in Japanese, but the pictures are pretty self-explanatory and surprisingly detailed. It looks like it could be for tourism, but all the sights pictured are small local temples, official city buildings, and the like, with very few proper tourist sights. I don’t know if this map is that helpful, especially since seemed like almost all locals taking the train, but I like it and whoever made it seemed to have fun while doing so.

Transit Maps says:

I don’t think it really matters who the target market for this map is, Jason, it’s just delightful to see a bit of whimsy in transit map design. I’m particularly fond of the adorable little train heading along the line. For a smaller, semi-rural branch line like this, the lighter tone is totally appropriate and the whole thing still works perfectly well for its intended wayfinding purposes. The line is presented as a clear, straight line and interchanges with other lines are indicated clearly, with connections to other JR lines at either end, as well as to the Hōjō Line and the Shintetsu Ao Line at Ao station (the seventh station from the left).

If you look closely, you can see that there used to be another line heading towards the bottom of the map from Yakujin station (fourth from the left), but this has now been covered or painted over. This was the Miki Line, which shut down in 2008 — suggesting that this map has been in use for a good number of years, with neat alterations like this keeping it up to date.

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Unofficial Map: London Overground Underground by Kenneth Field

April 4, 2019
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Submitted by Kenneth, who says:

Hi Cameron,

Well, I finally went and made a map after all the years berating other maps. So I throw it to you for amusement/ridicule, etc. I’m deliberately not going to explain my design decisions in detail because I think it best to get feedback without colouring your judgement. I’ll be writing a blog on my thinking in the next week or two but I wanted to simplify and de-clutter more than anything. I’ve massively reduced vertices and changes in direction. Managed to get a diamond motif going that’s a little nod to Mr Beck’s original interchange symbol. I think a lot of station detail (accessibility, etc.) is better served in a list of stations rather than having everything on the map. This is also stage 1 of a 2 map process. I’m currently making a 3D version as a bit of an experiment. Please go gently (or not)…

Transit Maps says:

Of all the tasks a transit map maker can set themselves, I think that redesigning the London Underground diagram has to be the most thankless of all. It really doesn’t matter how good the new version might be, people are going to grumble and complain about it – purely because the original thing is so ubiquitous that anything else just looks wrong.

And to be honest, that was my first gut reaction to this map. Where’s the comforting “thermos flask” shape? What’s that giant hump doing on the Circle Line? Diamonds?? So it took me a while to settle down and analyse the map in a more detached manner, and to appreciate its qualities.

The hump that I initially found so odd is actually more reflective of the real world arrangement of the stations at that point than the real Tube Map is, and the northern ends of the Jubilee Line and the Northern Line branches are also rather neatly arranged. Mornington Crescent is in the right place! The myriad diamond shapes are a nice repeating design element, though perhaps a little contrived in a couple of places – flipping Cheshunt back down to line up with Chingford is more than a little cheaty!

I really like the “walking feet” icon Ken uses to indicate a short walk between stations (“Out of Station Interchanges” in TfL parlance). It’s cheeky, informal and relaxed – all of which makes the walk look like the easiest thing in the world to do. I’m not so convinced by his symbol to indicate connections to National Rail stations. While it’s meant to symbolise railway tracks, it’s not a particularly punchy or memorable icon and also gets applied at lots of different angles, making it a bit visually inconsistent. At Euston, the icon gets laid over the Overground line simply because there’s nowhere else for it to go! A more immediately recognisable device like a stylised silhouette of a train (even an anachronistic Monopoly-like steam train for “main line service”) could work better here. Ken said he was reluctant to use the official National Rail icon, but I really think that icon would be almost instantly identifiable to just about anyone in the UK, explanation in the map’s legend or not!

Ken uses an interesting device at terminus stations where one line folds in on another, allowing a single station dot to be used for all the lines. Some good examples can be found at Hammersmith and Ealing Broadway. It’s rather lovely and quite unique, but it doesn’t seem to be applied consistently across the map. Why use it at Hammersmith but not at Richmond, for example? There may be a rationale behind this, but I’m not seeing it at the moment.

Some of the spacing and alignment of elements towards the outer edges gets a little weird because of Ken’s desire to straighten everything as much as possible. A totally straight Central Line seems like a good idea (and very much in line with Beck’s own design principles) but it pulls Uxbridge too far south, creating some really big gaps in the northwest quadrant. Harrow-on-the-Hill and Preston Road on the Metropolitan Line are very lonely indeed, while Watford and Watford Junction (less than a mile apart in real life) are now separated by a vast chasm of empty white space. And while this is a diagram, having Reading shown as being further east than Uxbridge is just jarring.

A few spatial errors from the actual Tube Map are repeated here – Acton Main Line should sit in the middle of all the other assorted Actons, and South Tottenham should be to the south of Seven Sisters, not north. This relationship becomes important if you’re implying a walking path and bearing between them on your map because – diagram or not – you just know that some users are going to interpret it as an actual map and try to use it for general wayfinding.

Ken’s treatment of the Elizabeth Line at Farringdon and Barbican is interesting, as it implies that the line will call at both stations in turn. In reality, there’ll be a new Elizabeth Line complex halfway between the two stations, but reachable from both of them… a “Barbingdon” station, if you will. Ken’s treatment isn’t wrong, as you can get to an Elizabeth Line train from either station, but it’s not really right, either.

One thing that the official Tube Map doesn’t get much credit for is how darn legible it is. Even at the small print size of the pocket journey planner, the station labels are always quite readable. A lot of redesigned maps – this one included – have much smaller type in comparison, and this limits their real-world application to large format posters and zoomable digital formats. Reproduced at the same dimensions as the on-line TfL Tube Map, Ken’s labels are about half the size, which is pretty hard on the old eyeballs.

Our rating: I know it seems like I’m being pretty harsh on this map, but I do actually like a lot of the ideas contained within it. It’s got a good graphic style and underlying design principles which could perhaps be applied a little more consistently. Spacing and spatial arrangement of elements towards the edges could also be refined somewhat. What I really do appreciate is the willingness and boldness to try something completely different (apart from Johnston Sans, Ken doesn’t use any of TfL’s design language at all) and put it out there for everyone to see (and grumble about). And there’s obviously a deep understanding of – and affection for – this venerable design icon, as reflected in the wry note at the bottom of the map, almost exactly echoing the words on Beck’s original edition in 1933:

Another new design for an old map by Kenneth Field. We should welcome your comments.

Check out the process and design notes for this map here.

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Submission – Fantasy Map: Hay Ride Transit Map from “Miikshi the Meek Sheep”

March 29, 2019
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Submitted by Peter, who says:

I love the aesthetic of this YouTube (only, so far) show and love the acting and the puppets and … pretty much everything about it and seriously hope they get some sort of deal for production. I didn’t think I could love it any more until this map popped up on a behind the scenes clip. I mean, the models of the subway and farm bus were amazing but a map, too? Holy cow! So to speak. Maybe the production team have Transitmap.net in their RSS feed like I do?

Transit Maps says:

Holy cow indeed, Peter! Although the behind the scenes video only gives us this partial glimpse of Mibukiville’s Hay Ride Transit (HRT) map, it’s pretty obvious that its main source of inspiration is the 1960 “Hutchinson” London Tube Map (The square interchange markers and hard angles where the lines change direction are kind of dead giveaways when identifying this particular edition compared to other versions of the Tube Map). The cool “sunrise” HRT logo is a great touch, and some of the station names are suitably pun-tastic. My favourite would have to be “Pig-Stuy”, which is hilarious.

Yes, there’s some oddities, like the fact that some of the interchange stations don’t seem to have names attached to them, but seeing as this a background prop from a kids’ puppet show, I think we can let it slide. I actually think the attention to detail for such a minor set element is wonderful to see. Check out the video that Peter mentions below for a quick look at the map in-situ in the actual show, which looks kind of incredible.

Submission – Historical Map: Illinois Central Railroad Passenger Routes, 1952 by Carter Moore

March 28, 2019
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Submitted by Carter, who says:

I’ve always been fascinated with trains and tube-style maps, so I decided to make my own based on my home-town’s railroad. I found an old Official Guide which I used as my source for this map. I’d like to hear what your think of it.

Transit Maps says:

Carter says that this is his first map, and I think it’s absolutely amazing for a first effort. Even with an official route guide to help, the research and dedication needed to piece this together must have been immense! Design-wise, I really like the dead-straight trajectory that the main Chicago to New Orleans trunk line takes – a great focal point for the whole map. The stylised compression of the rest of the map works pretty well for the most part, although some of the states do take on some pretty odd shapes. An alternate solution might have been to simply point off the edge of the map towards Florida, but I do really appreciate the completeness of Carter’s approach.

Labelling is generally pretty good, although I’m never really in favour of bigger type for important stations. I feel it breaks up the flow of a map and causes more problems, spacing-wise, than it’s worth. Bolder text or even all-caps at the same point size as a regular station works better for me. The only truly problematic area for labelling is the Delta Express out of Memphis. Alternating station names on either side of a diagonal route line is very difficult to pull off effectively, and it’s quite difficult to work out which label belongs to which station.

Typographically, I’m not entirely sure that Century Gothic (a 1991 font attempting to emulate a 1970s font in Avant Garde) really evokes the right 1950s feel, but it is clear and legible. An American-style gothic like Franklin Gothic or News Gothic might work well, and perhaps tie in with the Illinois Central logo as well.

I love the completeness of the service icons at the stations – regular stop, flag stop, one-way stop, etc. – although this can be a lot of information for readers to take in at once. It’s important to make the icons as intuitive as possible, and in general, Carter’s done a good job. The last one, for a one-way flag stop, is perhaps a little too subtle in its execution to be told apart from a normal one-way stop quickly and easily. A little refinement and these should work!

Minor things: I’d move the legend away from the map and into the wide-open spaces in Arkansas, and I’d work on getting smooth curves out of stations along 45-degree routes instead of starting the angle directly from the station marker. The curves north of Clinton could be rotated 180 degrees and reused to the south of Gilman, for example.

Our rating: A labour of love, I feel, and a fantastic, ambitious effort for a first attempt at a transit map! Keep at it, Carter – revise and refine and this will be a great historical map.

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Submission – Future Map: Melbourne Rail and Tram Map, 2025 by Durfsurn

March 27, 2019
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Submitted by Durfsurn, who says:

Originally I was making a map similar to my previous style of Melbourne/ Australian transport maps, but as the increasing complexity of a multi-modal map made itself clear I decided to streamline the lines, trying to balance real life corridors with more sensible and understandable map design. First I was inspired from a recent trip to Japan (amazing PT systems with manic maps to go with!) and added Line Identifiers but soon realised they would be far too cramped to fit within my station denotations. Instead I had seen others use dots within stations so inspired by that I added hollow dots for trams and solid ones for trains. I also recently added peak hour train frequencies. One major issue was combining the scales of networks in a way that had to emphasise the inner suburbs where the tram lines reside, and the extent of the suburban train network. My solution for this was to indicate small distance gaps on further reaching train lines and of course the obligatory NOT TO SCALE note in the bottom right.

Transit Maps says:

This is certainly an interesting design experiment, and it does look very striking, although I feel it’s more useful as an overview of the (future) network than as a proper wayfinding tool. The absence of any train stations/tram stops apart from interchanges and termini sees to that. However, it does work quite well in the denser downtown grid where many major interchanges get named, and I do like the bold, simple, graphic style of the map.

A few of the adjacent rail lines have pretty low contrast – the blue and purple lines in particular just seem to bleed into each other. Similarly, the large number of cased tram lines running in parallel don’t read that well as individual route lines – it just seems very busy. An alternate, if safer, solution might be thinner lines for the tram routes, but with a thin white space between each of them.

At first glance, the bullets that contain train frequency information look almost exactly like the route designation bullets, which is bound to cause confusion. It’s useful information to have on an overview map like this, but it needs to be presented in a different shape or colour to instantly visually differentiate it. In a circle? White text against a dark background? Offset from the route line with “tph” for “trains per hour” appended? There are a lot of different solutions!

Our rating: A good graphic style: chunky and bright! Needs a little work to make the information contained within more readily digestible, but a good start on a different approach.

New Project: Field Notes Brand “Mile Marker” Map

March 26, 2019
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I’ve been sworn to absolute secrecy on this project since mid-January, so I’m very excited to finally share it. Early today, Field Notes (the purveyor of beautiful memo and note books) released their latest quarterly limited edition, “Mile Marker,” with cover designs celebrating the Interstate Highway system. Included with subscriptions – and available for separate purchase on the Field Notes website – is an old-school foldable highway map, designed by me in collaboration with the Field Notes team.

Although this “Mile Marker” map is inspired by my older “Highways of the USA” map, almost everything has been completely redrawn and re-evaluated – with thicker route line weights for the smaller print size, new labelling set in all-caps Futura Bold to match the Field Notes house style, and new icons for highway route number designations. This map shows all two-digit Interstate highways as well as the “major” U.S. Numbered Highways (those ending in “0” or “1”, as defined by AASHTO*) in thinner grey lines. This struck a good balance between simplicity and complexity while allowing the map to retain its distinctive bold graphic style.

As well as the folded map, there’s also a limited number of “suitable for framing” flat press-check prints available for purchase on the Field Notes site. A true limited edition – once these are gone, there are no more!

I have to say, one of the best parts of this project was finally getting to collaborate with Jim Coudal, who has always been an amazing supporter of my work. He was the very first person to draw attention to my original “Interstates as Subway Map” poster way back in 2009, and has kept an eye on my output ever since. He had a vision for this map that I knew I could achieve, and we both worked towards that goal – the project was an absolute blast to bring to life!

*Note: U.S. 2 is considered as a “major” route, as it is the northernmost east-west U.S. Highway (there is no Highway “0”).