Historical Map: Pacific Electric Railway System in Southern California, c. 1926 by Jake Berman

September 5, 2018
comment 1
Filed Under:
Historical Maps
Tags:

I’m really enjoying this modern take on a map of the Pacific Electric’s sprawling electric streetcar network by Jake Berman. Obviously based on the period map shown (or an extremely similar one!), it retains a lot of the visual energy of the original – mainly because of the multiple angles used for both the route lines and labels. Normally, this might be something I’d find fault with, but I think it’s totally appropriate here when you consider the source material. 

However, Jake’s method of showing the number of in-service tracks along each section is easier to understand… varying line thickness certainly works better than the detailed ticked and pecked lines of the old map. Showing the three main railroad divisions is a nice bit of extra information as well – an advantage of a full-colour map. Lots to look at and enjoy here!

Jake sells prints of this map here. 

Submission – Unofficial Future Map: Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop (Straightened) by Philip Mallis

August 31, 2018
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Future Maps, Unofficial Maps
Tags:

Submitted by Philip, who says:

I put together a map showing a redesign of Melbourne’s rail network with the newly-announced Suburban Rail Loop (SRL). Given that this is the first radial railway proposed for Melbourne for many decades, I have built the rest of the map around a central straight line of the new Loop.

More explanation and links to the map on Philip’s website.

Transit Maps says:

The recent announcement of this new underground railway connecting the outer suburbs of Melbourne certainly has people talking. This is not the first map I’ve received on the subject, and I doubt it’ll be the last.

I find this one particularly interesting because of the way that Philip has chosen to straighten out the new line – which isn’t really a “loop” as it doesn’t form a complete circuit around the city – and then diagrammatically connect the rest of the lines to it. For the most part, it holds up pretty well as a representation of the network as the SRL still runs from west to east across the map, just without the bends. Obviously, some liberties have had to be taken (the placement of the Flemington Racecourse branch being the most obvious example), but the regular grid holds the whole thing together nicely.

Philip has chosen to render the rest of the network in a uniform blue for simplicity’s sake, but I’d certainly be interested in seeing a version that uses the official colours for all the lines, as I feel it would help users orient themselves better within this unusual layout. Perhaps the line colours could stack on top of each other where they overlap, multiplying up to black through the City Loop?

Some minor thoughts: the planned station complexes at Melbourne Central/State Library and Flinders Street/Town Hall could be joined by connecting lines to indicate pedestrian transfer. In the same vein, Melbourne Central itself should be shifted off the intersection of the City Loop and the Metro Tunnel and changed to a tick, as it’s my understanding that it will not directly serve the Metro Tunnel (passengers will transfer by walking to State Library). Lines that cross but don’t interact with each other could be separated by a thin white keyline – the new line from North Melbourne to Parkville could pass “under” the line south of West Melbourne, for example.

Overall though, this is an unusual and imaginative look at a major new transportation project, nicely executed. It’s always fun to look at things with a fresh perspective, and I think the map certainly succeeds in that regard.

Source: maps.philipmallis.com

Submission – Official Map: Tram and Ferry Map of Gothenburg, Sweden

August 14, 2018
comments 2
Filed Under:
Official Maps
Tags:

Submitted by Hugo Simonsson, who says:

The map of the Gothenburg tram (and ferry) network. I think it’s quite nice, but there’s some flaws with the huge bit of space in the top left and the complicated ferry network in the bottom left without clear routes. The choice of colours is nice and mostly clear.

Transit Maps says:

There’s actually is a reason for the odd combination of wasted space and cramped parts in this map – it’s one of a pair of maps that show the tram lines. The one Hugo mentions (first image) combines trams with ferries, while the second image combines them with the major “trunk” bus lines. In both maps, the depiction of the tram lines and the large yellow interchange circles remain almost exactly the same, and the other services are fitted in around them.

The one major difference is that on the ferry map, tram line 11 is shortened in order to squeeze the ferry routes into the bottom left of the map, and there’s a lot more water shown (for obvious reasons). Apart from that, there’s only a few minor tweaks to the tram lines in each map to accommodate the other lines. As a designer, I definitely understand this approach – using one layout for the trams shared between the two maps saves a lot of work. Overall, it works out quite well, although both maps do end up looking just a bit unbalanced because of it.

A few other notes: I don’t like the dashed lines for the bus routes – it makes the map very busy and messy (as well as under construction). Simple thinner cyan lines would have worked better. The light salmon colour for Line 13 isn’t great. Some of the curves are drawn a bit wonkily – especially the acute angle on the red Line 5 to the bottom right.

Our rating: Both are solid maps, if a little unbalanced. Nice to see maps developed as part of a unified suite. Three stars.

Source: vasttrafik.se

Submission – Unofficial Map: Rail Services of Luxembourg by Simon S.

August 14, 2018
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Unofficial Maps
Tags:

Submitted by Simon, who says:

My name is Simon and for a long time I have been a fan of your blog. I already sent you a couple of maps via this form, although I am not sure whether you received them. Recently, I have completed a simple map that I am quite proud of – it’s a map of the rail services of Luxembourg. Notwithstanding Jug Cerović’s fabulous Luxembourg bus map, the official map by the railway company CFL is so hideous, that I could only find this outdated version on the internet (line 80 has been withdrawn in 2016). I would be honoured if you took some time to look over it and provide some feedback to me.

I do not have much mapping experience, but I hope there are not too many beginners’ mistakes. I tried having straight lines as much as possible, which did work with lines 10, 30 and 50. The southern area of the network around Esch-sur-Alzette is a bit more complicated, so there are some angles there.

I used the colours from the official map, however I made up the line numbering scheme. The RE11 (which is actually running on line 30, blame Germany’s Rhineland-Palatinate for this) is the only line that uses line numbers, although I did see a “RE60” train to Rodange once at Luxembourg station, which is why I tried to make it as close to the actual system used as possible (Lines RB61, RB62, RB63 run on the timetable routes 60A, 60B, 60C respectively). I also added the Aubange-Athus-Arlon line in Belgium, operated by SNCB/NMBS’ L13 that provides a useful link in the west, and also the German RB82 on the Upper Moselle Railway, which also serves many Luxembourgish cities and towns just across the river from Germany, such as Schengen (yes, that Schengen), and Grevenmacher.

A few things were tricky about the map, because since December, there are a few cross-Luxembourg train services on weekdays; namely the RB of lines 30 and 60, as well as the RE of lines 10 and 30 are combined, and also the RE of line 70 continues to Mersch on line 10. I’ve tried making it clear in the timetable explanation, however I am not yet totally convinced. Also, my map shows – at least a bit – the stopping pattern of RB and RE services. In and around Luxembourg City, the interchanges with the urban bus and tram system are shown by this small VDL icon, with VDL standing for Ville de Luxembourg.

The main language of the map is French, as that is what CFL mostly uses, although I provided some translations in German and English. Luxembourgish does not seem to be used by CFL at all really, apart from some ad posters and on-train announcements; also, I wouldn’t be able to write that anyways (as a German I do understand it very well though).

Transit Maps says:

Overall, this is quite a lovely effort from Simon. The simplified pentagonal layout works well, and I especially appreciate the way that the purple “70″ and green “30″ lines form a single straight axis through Luxembourg City: very neatly done. The legend seems very comprehensive, although Tumblr’s image size restrictions means that I can’t read all of it. Indication of train frequency in the legend is good information.

Labelling is perhaps a little small throughout: there’s room in most places to make it a little bigger without too much hassle. Similarly, the little “VDL” discs seem a little small and hard to make out.

The one angle that bothers me is that on the orange line between Petange and Esch/Alzette: its 45-degree tilt really sticks out when everything else is at 30/60. Personally, I’d like to see it at the same angle as the section out of Luxembourg to Bettembourg to the south-east, even if that means lengthening the straight section from Noertzange to Audun-le-Tiche to accommodate it. The country’s borders are already quite distorted by the diagrammatic treatment, so a little bit more in the busiest part of the map won’t make much difference.

Finally, the thinning out route lines where they run concurrent to each other could be a little problematic. Often, a thinner route line can be taken to mean less frequency of service in that section, especially as more and more modern transit maps incorporate frequency information. The legend mitigates this a bit, but it’s still something to be aware of. I generally prefer to run two full-thickness lines next to each other instead of halving their width to fit into the space of one.

Submission – Mini Metro Game Adds “Retro” Maps

July 28, 2018
comment 1
Filed Under:
Reviews
Tags:

Not your typical “map” but the game Mini Metro recently released a 1972 Vignelli-inspired map of New York. (Early Paris and London too.)

I love it. What are your thoughts?

Transit Maps says:

This update to the game has been around for a while, but I haven’t had the time to sit down and play seriously enough unlock the new “retro transit” levels. I got 999 once trying to unlock the old London map (you need 1,000!) and haven’t really played much since then. So, thanks for reminding me to go and play this awesome game again, and for showing me what one of the new maps looks like… a pretty spot-on interpretation of the real thing, even if Central Park is wider than it is tall!

Historical Map: Tokyo Airport Access Connections, 1993

July 27, 2018
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Historical Maps
Tags:

A small inset diagram from a 1993 tourist map of Tokyo, showing the myriad transportation options between Tokyo and its airports. Nicely simplified, and also gives prices, as well as approximate travel times to Narita (then still officially known as “New Tokyo International Airport”). The distinctive shape made by the Yamanote and Chuo lines (a device also seen in this wonderful 1984 diagram by Richard Saul Wurman) forms the backbone of the diagram. 

Source: David Rumsey Map Collection

Historical Map: Strassenbahn and Stadtbahn Map, Vienna, Austria, 1933

July 17, 2018
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Historical Maps
Tags:

A map of Vienna’s city rail network in 1933, showing the extensive tram (Strassenbahn) network and the Wiener Stadtbahn, which now forms part of both the U- and S-Bahn networks. Interestingly, the stations of the Stadtbahn are only denoted by two-letter abbreviations on the map, which have to be cross referenced with a legend at the top right. This is also probably one of the earliest attempts at indicating fare zones I’ve seen on a transit map.

Source: David Rumsey Map Collection

Official Map: Biotrén Commuter Rail, Concepción, Chile, 2018

July 6, 2018
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Official Maps
Tags:

Suggested by Ricardo Tróstel on Twitter.

This is an example of a map that should be pretty simple and straightforward, but the designers have made a lot of baffling decisions along the way that work really hard to sabotage it from the inside.

For starters, the Biotrén network has two lines, but the map doesn’t indicate where either begins or ends. For the record, Line 1 runs from Mercado to Hualqui and Line 2 runs from Coronel to the main hub station at Concepción, but good luck working that out.

The stations are all colour-coded according to the municipality that they’re in, which isn’t really my thing, but it works acceptably and does add a welcome dash of colour to the map. However, the boxes are all the same size, regardless of the length of the the name… which means that “Cardenal Raúl Silva Henríquez” station has to be both abbreviated and labelled in a much smaller font size to fit. Other labels are also crammed into their boxes, though not to such a drastic degree. It all makes for a somewhat chaotic look. I’d think that colour-coding the station dots and having plain black text labels – all set at the same size – would work a lot better.

The most baffling design decision made, however, is the choice to place the whole map on a blue background that precisely matches the colour used to represent the Bió Bió River… making it look for all the world that the greater Concepción area exists on two large islands in the middle of an ocean. Really quite bizarre.

Our rating: It’s hard to screw up a system map that consists of just two routes, but this one tries really hard to do just that. Still usable… but only just. One star.

Historical Maps: Melbourne Tram Destination Posters by Vernon Jones, c. 1930s

June 30, 2018
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Historical Maps, Prints Available
Tags:

A handsome pair of posters promoting easy travel by tram to destinations around Melbourne, designed by artist Vernon Jones (1908–2002), perhaps better known for his illustration work documenting WWII. The dating on these is a little uncertain, with some sources placing the first edition as early as 1925. They were used for a number of years: a later edition of the “Zoo” poster revised the time from Collins Street to a perhaps more realistic 14 minutes.

Prints of these maps are now available in the Transit Maps store: Beaches | Zoo

Source: State Library of Victoria.
Beaches | Zoo

New Project: Unofficial Map – Metro de Medellin, Colombia

June 26, 2018
comments 6
Filed Under:
My Transit Maps, Unofficial Maps
Tags:

While preparing today’s post about the current Medellin Metro map (2 stars), I kept looking at the map and asking myself if there were ways that I could improve upon it. Eventually, I had enough ideas to make a reworking worthwhile and set about the task.

I’ve chosen to show a “near-future” version of the system, with the “M” and “P” MetroCable lines completed, but without the Line 3 BRT, as I can’t find enough information on the names of proposed stations to include it properly. It’s worth noting that there is plenty of room to include it at a later date.

The typeface used is URW DIN, which echoes the use of DIN on the 2014 version of the map (the latest version uses an uncomfortable mixture of DIN and Myriad, which don’t really work that well together). All in all, this map represents about eight hours of work from initial concept to completion.

As always with a hypothetical redesign like this, I set myself some clear goals to achieve, these being:

  • A stronger sense of hierarchy. All the route lines on the official map are the same thickness, which makes it a little tricky to differentiate between modes. I chose to make the Metro lines (the backbone of the system) thicker, with the tram and BRT lines slightly thinner. Finally, the MetroCable lines – which act as feeders to the rest of the system – are thinner still, which is also a nice visual representation of the thin cables that the gondolas run on. The Metro gets square line letter bullets, while the tram gets a reversed square to indicate its role as a sort of “Pre-Metro”. The other modes get discs, with letters for the MetroCable and numbers for BRT.
  • All horizontal labels. Part of the messiness on the official map comes from the fact that some of its labels have to be angled to fit into the layout, which then shifts other stations out of place in order to accommodate them. Looking at maps of Medellin, I realised that the central part of the city is actually angled quite substantially away from a true north-south orientation. By using (and somewhat exaggerating) that angle throughout the map, I was able to arrange all the labels so that there were no clashes and no angled labels. It also gives the whole map a nice dynamic, I think. For those curious about the angles, the map is based on a 2:1 grid – for every two grid squares that Line A moves northwards, for example, it also moves one square eastwards. This equals a clockwise rotation of 26.565 degrees, which is a tiny bit less severe than a full 30 degrees, but gave me enough room to work with when staggering my labels.
  • Better indication of pedestrian transfers. The official map indicates stations where a walk between modes is required by enclosing them in a white lozenge with a dotted black outline. Unfortunately, it’s visually very similar to the standard transfer symbol (a white lozenge with a solid black outline), and is especially confusing at Industriales station, where the ambiguity of the symbol doesn’t really indicate that the pedestrian transfer is a lengthy walk between the Metro station on the east side of the river and the bus station for Lines 1 and 2 on the west. I’ve used an easier-to-understand thin black line connector between the separate parts of these transfer stations: the one at Industriales is correspondingly longer to indicate that lengthy hike.
  • Simplification. All the route lines are as straight as possible – no kinks in MetroCable and tram routes, and no random angles. Similarly, the station transfer symbols are presented in their simplest form. The central part of the map has been expanded for clarity and to allow ample room for labels (compare the label for Exposiciones station on both maps), while still adhering to a standard grid – the three north-south lines through the city centre are now evenly spaced, making for a more pleasing composition.
  • A properly designed legend. The legend on the official map is crammed into some left over space at the bottom of the map – I wanted to take the time to craft a legend that fitted into a properly allocated space, which also means the map stands alone without having its breathing room taken up by extra information.

I also had a bit of fun with the river, using my favourite “Harry Beck Tube Map river stripes effect” and allowing it to break the map’s border at the top and the bottom (to show that it doesn’t just end at the map’s edge). I also indicate the approximate shape of the extensive Parque Arví to the top left of the map – the one and only destination of MetroCable Line “L”. This is probably the element I’m least happy with in the whole map – while it’s a nice piece of information to include, I also feel that it perhaps draws a little too much attention to itself. Maybe it’ll grow on me?

As always, thought, comments and critiques are welcome. This one was a lot of fun to do: I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to achieve and it all came together with a minimum of fuss in a short amount of time.