Submission – Official Map: Unified Map of Transit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2018

January 17, 2019
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Submitted by Henrique, who says:

Hello! Rio de Janeiro has, now and finally, a new official map of all the metropolitan transport system. Here, we have BRT corridors, tramways, metro lines and a suburban rail, but each system used to have your own map in the stations. What you think about the design of it?

Transit Maps says:

The text on the government web page promoting this map roughly translates to: “This tool… aims to standardize the visualization of all transport services of high and medium capacities and the respective integrations available to users”, which is a very laudable goal. However, I’m not sure it’s totally successful, for a few reasons.

The lack of differentiation between modes is the biggest thing: almost every route, no matter the mode or frequency of service is the same exact thickness. As a result, there’s no hierarchy to the map at all. Personally, I would have made the Metro lines thicker and more prominent than everything else because of the higher frequency of service: it forms the literal backbone of the transit network. At the moment, actually finding the Metro on the map is a lot of hard work!

There’s also quite a few similar colours used for different lines throughout the map. The worst example of this is two Line 2s (Metro and light rail) that are both green. Speaking of which, the two systems should really use different nomenclature to allow them to be told apart more easily… Lines 1, 2 and 4 for the Metro, but Lines A, B and C for the light rail, for example.

Station labelling is somewhat inconsistent: some angled route lines use horizontal labels (mainly to the top of the map), while others have diagonal labels. Lots of intercity bus terminals to the right side of the map have their labels set at angles for no discernible reason. The coastline is generally simplified nicely, but the borders of the parklands are too detailed by comparison. There’s even one park to the west of Nilópolis that hasn’t been properly simplified to 45-degree angles! Including a note that the map is not to scale directly underneath a scale bar seems a little odd.

On the plus side, the layout is generally pleasing and the legend is quite comprehensive and well laid out.

Our rating: Promises a lot, but doesn’t quite deliver. Looks clean and modern, but not very intuitive or easy to use. Two-and-a-half stars.

See also: This map from the Rio Olympic Games that also attempted to combine different services into one map.

Source: Governo do Rio de Janeiro website – link no longer active

Official Yet Unofficial Map: TriMet System Map in the Style of the Washington, DC Metro Map

January 15, 2019
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OMG. I’m in hysterics over here.

TriMet just posted a new system map — that they themselves made — that’s a note-perfect homage to the Washington, DC Metro system map.

Just look at this work of art! It’s got thick route lines, tightly-set Helvetica, lush green parks, freeways and rivers. About the only thing missing are icons for the big tourist spots, like Powells Books or the Japanese Garden or Big Pink. Of course, TriMet has had to let everyone know that this is just for giggles and that the system map is not actually changing to this style. They’re also taking requests for their next mash-up… anyone got some fun ideas?

Source: TriMet/Twitter

Submission – Unofficial Map: Transit of Sumy, Ukraine by Kostya Cherepovskyi

January 14, 2019
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Submitted by Kostya, who says:

I’d be happy if you reviewed my new piece, unofficial transit map of Ukrainian city of Sumy featuring:

  • trolleybuses in the foreground and buses in the background,
  • close to real topology,
  • landmarks, city center map and other smaller features.

I’m sorry about Cyrillics but I feel like it shouldn’t matter much. Looking forward to what you think and thank you!

Transit Maps says:

Hey everyone, it’s the first published submission via the new, improved Submissions page, and isn’t it an absolute beauty? Seriously, I’m struggling to find things to critique about this – the contrast between trolleybus lines 13, 18 and 15/15A is a little low when they run concurrently towards the top of the map, and the light blue for the bus lines is perhaps just a little too recessive, but that’s pretty minor stuff.

The huge diagonal slash of the main routes through the city is just gorgeous, and – as Kostya notes – actually does reflect the real topology of the city quite well. Also of note is the hard drop shadow underneath the white station markers on the lighter-coloured route lines, which helps define them better than if there was no shadow. It’s a subtle but important addition that works nicely.

The more detailed central part of the city is well done, with its visible streets and softly-faded edges. The point-of-interest icons are serviceable enough, though perhaps the Central Market building needs a little more work to make it look more like the actual structure instead of a plain circle.

Our rating: Rather wonderful, and a great first post to launch the “new” Transit Maps. Four stars!

Welcome to the new “Transit Maps”!

January 12, 2019
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Hey, everyone – it’s official! Transit Maps has a new home, free of Tumblr and all the drama that goes with it at last. It’s been an interesting experience importing everything into WordPress, but I think almost everything has been transferred properly. There’s still a lot of clean up work to be done to format everything nicely, so please excuse any mess you might see. Everything from now back to the end of 2016 has been cleaned, as well as some other posts that have proved popular over time. The rest will be done as time allows.

So, what’s new?

There’s a whole new Submissions page, which actually sends you a notice that I’ve received anything that you send my way. Use it to send me maps for review, your thoughts, requests, etc.

The major types of maps – official, unofficial, fantasy, future, historical, etc. – are now WordPress categories instead of tags, which helps organise the site better. Check out the Archive page to see categories, the most popular tags, and the most recent posts.

Please “like” and leave comments on maps that interest you – the robust community discussion around featured maps is one of the best parts of the site, and I’d love that to continue.

If you’d like to be alerted by email when I post something new to the site, then add your email address to the subscription form at the bottom of this post. I’ll also continue to notify you of new posts on Twitter and the blog’s Facebook page.

That’s all for now – thanks to everyone for their support over the years and during this transition!

Cameron

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Video: Introduction to an Alternate Berlin Transit Map by Pasha Omelekhin

December 5, 2018
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All transit maps should have their own cool launch video! And this one certainly makes the map look very intriguing, with its more geographically faithful and organic layout. The distinctive Hundekopf (dog’s head) shape of the S41/S42 Berlin Ringbahn is certainly very apparent! The larger font size is also quite obvious, even at a distance. 

The only minor quibble I have about this video is that it calls this map “THE new map”, contrasting that against “the old map”. To some, that might imply that this is a new official BVG map, which it isn’t.

You can see a high-res version of the map here, and prints are available here.

Historical Map: MUNI Route Changes, January 27, 1982

December 5, 2018
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Sent my way by Marcin Wichary on Twitter is this rather adorable little illustrated map. It’s from the front page of a leaflet issued to introduce new – and quite substantial – changes to routes in San Francisco, moving from a radial pattern that centred on downtown to more of a gridlike pattern covering the whole city. The changes also introduced the concept of timed transfers at some stations to eliminate long waits for transfers.

The illustration is simple but charming, with a rather lovely Sutro Tower right in the middle and a modern (for 1982!) streetcar emerging from the Twin Peaks tunnel below – the problematic Boeing-Vertol LRV.

Also of note for all the pedants out there who insist that “Muni” has to be styled in caps/lower case as it’s short for “municipal” and not an acronym – Muni itself styled it as all-caps back in 1982!

Submission – Unofficial Map: Metro Bilbao, Spain by Raül Santín

November 25, 2018
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Submitted by Raül, who says:

Hello, this is my third transit map that I create, but the first one that’s not a fantasy one (previously I did a Tallinn Metro Map and a Tram network for my town), so it’s a redesign of Metro Bilbao and suburban network. I would like to know your feedback about it, and I would also like you to publish it because I don’t think there are many circular maps out there, at least in Spain. 

Being a circular map, there is a lot of distortion, but not so much looking at the current official map, which shows the lines very schematically, although retaining the geographical shape. I think there are things to improve, but overall there’s more legibility and the routes are clearer (for example in the official map some stations show the tram stop very far from the rail one, when in reality the tram stop is just in front of the train station). I also used the official metro typeface, Rotis Semi Sans. 

I haven’t been able to find just a standalone metro map (the one in metro bilbao’s website is just a plain thermometer). So my final product features other companies like Euskotren and Renfe, showing until zone 3, the farthest zone where the actual metro network arrives. Maybe it’s not the most useful or practical map, but it’s a different approach, I think.

Transit Maps says:

I think you’ve summed your own map up pretty well, Raül – it’s an interesting experiment, but I’m not entirely sure that it’s a totally successful one. The circular/radial design works fairly well for the most part, and I like the way it adds emphasis to the central part of Bilbao, but it also introduces more than a few problems. 

The first and most prominent of these is the need to put the labels for two major stations across the route lines at San Mamés and Bolueta. Even with the white halo around the type, they’re both very hard to read against the black route line of Metro L2.

Secondly, the station marker at Zazpikaleak/Casco Viejo is quite unconvincing, as it has to stretch awkwardly across a big gap and ends up jammed on top of a big right angle curve on the right hand “half” of the station. The main effect of this is to visually separate Metro L3 line from the rest of the Metro system, which isn’t really desirable.

Pink for the background zones? It’s interesting to see zones that aren’t grey, but it can clash a bit with some of the lighter lines and type, especially the yellow C4F Renfe Feve line. It’s certainly distinctive!

I’d probably also like to see the lines that continue on to zones 4 and 5 to extend past the edge of the circle just slightly as an instant visual cue that they extend further than the map shows. I feel that the arrowheads in their current form are perhaps a little too subtle. The type of the minor lines is perhaps a little too small in comparison to the Metro labels? And finally, the legend feels a little too fractured, placed as it is at various corners of the map. I’d probably prefer to see it as one unified element below the map.

Overall, this is put together very well and certainly has some interesting ideas, but is perhaps just a little too experimental for everyday use.

Submission – Fantasy Map: Pacific Electric, Modern Day by Julian

November 9, 2018
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Submitted by Julian, who says:

Although Los Angeles’ Pacific Electric interurban system fell victim to the postwar wave of urban railway closures, systems in other cities were preserved on account of their grade-separated infrastructure. In San Francisco in particular, the only streetcar lines that were preserved were the 5 that were segregated from traffic for part of their length. Since certain segments of the Pacific Electric system were not only segregated from traffic but 4-tracked and underground, it isn’t hard to imagine much the same happening in Los Angeles after the MTA takeover.

This alternate history scenario diverges from reality around 1940 and imagines the rehabilitation of the surviving Pacific Electric interurban lines to rapid-transit standards, paired with a project started in the 1960s to build new rapid transit lines around a cross-shaped ‘starter system.’ The result is something like the New York subway system, with the system organized around 4-track trunk lines, but distinctive in its own right- an iconic American rapid transit system that count have been.

Transit Maps says:

What I love most about this “alternate reality” transit map for Los Angeles is that Julian has created an entirely plausible backstory for it, one that he has explained in great detail in a series of accompanying timeline maps, which I have included in full underneath the main map. Basically, Julian asks “What if the old Pacific Electric tracks weren’t ripped up, but instead maintained and upgraded over the years?” It’s an interesting proposition, and he’s explored the concept well. Of course, there’s no small amount of irony here as the current real-world LA Metro looks at reclaiming some of these old rights-of-way to build new rapid transit lines: the West Santa Ana branch stands out particularly in that regard.

As for the map, it gets the job done in showing an increasingly complex system in a consistent and low-fuss manner. There’s a few problems with the spacing of labels – some are much further away from their station markers than others – and some random capitalisation of words. “1 st” looks more like it’s saying “first” than “First Street”, for example. And “3 st” and “4 st” just look like badly written ordinal numbers. “Three-irst”?

There is one clanging mistake in the map where routes 10 and 12 swap their northern outer ends. If you follow the route lines, it looks like the 10 should go to Eagle Rock and the 12 should go to Burbank Airport. Easy enough to correct, though! 

Our rating: The map by itself is fairly workmanlike, but the thought that Julian has put into its development elevates it beyond its simple look. A fascinating hypothetical series of maps, worthy of some detailed perusal.

Submission – Photo: B/C Full Line Map, New York Subway

November 5, 2018
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Submitted by Max, who says:

I was at the newly redone 110 Street/Cathedral Parkway stop the other night and caught a glance of this new map for the B/C trains (sorry for the low-quality photo, but because of the new train arrival countdown clocks, time pressures made me take it from the other side of the turnstile). It makes some sense to see these both on the same map as they’re both part of the IND system, but it doesn’t seem that useful outside of the area around where I was because the lines are so far apart in Brooklyn. I think the best single feature may be that the lines crossing that should happen between Hoyt-Schermerhorn and Lafayette and DeKalb and Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center doesn’t happen.

Transit Maps says:

I think you’re missing the point of this map a bit, Max. The map makes sense not because the B and C are old IND lines, but because they’re the only lines that actually stop at 110th/Cathedral Parkway. Thus, the map depicts where you can get to directly from that station. From other photos I’ve seen, similar digital maps down on the platforms would “grey out” the stations in the opposite direction of travel. In effect, this is really just two intertwined strip maps for each line.

However, I personally don’t find the map particularly attractive. It looks like it’s attempting to channel the Vignelli diagram, but it’s not totally successful. The severe angles, especially around W4th/Washington Square, are too harsh for my liking, and the dashed route line for the rush hour extension of the B is also pretty ugly. I do wonder whether a dynamic display would work here: during rush hours, the extension is “on” and shown in full, while in non-peak hours it’s simply turned “off” and not displayed at all. The map is digital after all, and almost certainly connected to a network in order to also display advertisements. (Unless this is what it already does: it’s hard to tell from a static image!)

I also wonder why it was thought necessary to display the labels for the terminal stations on the left hand side of the lines when all the other labels are to the right. It’s specially a problem at the southern end of the B, where the label for Brighton Beach clashes with the adjacent labels on the C. Ugly and unnecessary – it’s completely visually obvious that these are the last stops, and there’s plenty of room in all instances to move the labels to the right where they belong.

Our rating: Meh. Tries to evoke Vignelli but falls somewhat flat. Two-and-a-half stars.

Submission – Official Map: Buses around the Eastern Suburbs, Sydney, Australia

November 5, 2018
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Submitted by Felix, who says:

Transport for NSW released a new bus route map for the Eastern Suburbs, which I noticed a hard copy of and they provided a PDF upon request.

There are many bus routes in the area and, because of the hilly terrain, many have quirks in their routes. I’ve spoken to many a tourist or visitor at Bondi Junction interchange, or one of the beaches, confused about which bus to take. I assume this is one of the objectives of the map and why it uses a physically accurate map, with the beaches clearly marked – many tourists are visiting multiple beaches and walking between them, where possible. Also of note, the map omits buses such as the multiple 37_ buses that go from Randwick to the city – both areas on the map. I understand not including all routes, as there’s no natural cutoff point, but I think would be worth having them as faint lines or similar.

Design issues I noticed are: the grey lines of roads are not on the legend (and these roads are mostly not straight in reality), two buses are in black but it’s not clear why, there is no end dot for the 323 or the 311, it omits the arterial roads either side of the Moore Park green wedge, because they wouldn’t fit on the 45 degree orientation, some T-intersections of the blue lines show a turn, others do not (e.g. 381 at Bondi Road), and the bus interchange at Edgecliff and Bondi Junction are on top of the underground platforms, but the map suggests they are kind of near each other. Also, there are two floating train stations at Hyde Park, and despite the title, there are clearly ferry and train routes on the map, why not call it Public transport around the Eastern Suburbs? Lastly, there are time estimates for some walking routes (I think are helpful), but not the coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee segments.

Transit Maps says:

Before I address Felix’s concerns with this map (many of which are valid), I will note that this map does represent a pleasing maturation of the “new”  Transport for NSW house style: it’s definitely the most confidently executed and aesthetically pleasing map I’ve seen thus far from them. The combination of simplified routes and geography in particular is working quite nicely. There is a bit of “bus number hunting” that needs to be done to follow some routes across the map, but as it’s really meant as an overview of services, I don’t think it’s too bad.

That said, the omission of buses that reach the Eastern Suburbs from Central Station (the 37x routes that Felix mentions) is kind of baffling. I commuted to Randwick from Central on the 373 back in 1991–1992, and all of those buses are a major method of moving between the two areas. As it stands, this is only a map of Eastern Suburbs buses if you start or end your journey at Circular Quay or Bondi Junction. The fact that the 388 – a very short route from Paddington to Bondi Junction which runs just once each weekday – gets included on this map over any of the 37x routes is (for me, at least) more than a little bizarre.

I don’t have a huge problem with the roads around Moore Park being omitted – as the routes shown don’t interact with them at all, they’re superfluous detail. I would have liked the City Circle rail lines to have been shown as the Eastern Suburbs line has been – as Felix says, the “floating” stations just look a bit odd. Straightening out windy roads is absolutely fine on an overview map like this.

As far as walking times go, I’m fine with what is displayed. Walking distances between transit modes need to be shown because that’s very useful information for a user to have. The coastal walk is a recreational path over a much longer distance, so the time taken to walk it will vary widely depending on the abilities and goals of those who are walking it.

Our rating: Looks great, and does a reasonably good job of showing an overview of the routes that have been included. The exclusion of routes to/from Central Station is mystifying, however. Two-and-a-half stars.