Submission – Yorkshire Tourist Bus Map by Best Impressions

June 20, 2017
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Submitted by Ray, who says:

Here’s Best Impressions’ new tourist bus map for encouraging people to get out and about to explore Yorkshire using the Transdev bus network. The map is intended to highlight the richness of attractions and destinations in a pictorial style. It’s included in our our “Amazing Days in Yorkshire” leaflet, just released.

Transit Maps says:

While I don’t want to get in the habit of acting as a PR agent for various transit mapping/wayfinding companies, this attractive birds-eye map definitely caught my eye. It’s bright, colourful, and easy to understand, yet it’s also filled with enough interesting details to demand more detailed perusal.

The towns and sights of Yorkshire are shown with just enough unique detail to make them distinctive and easy to recognise, from the ruins of Whitby Abbey to the National Railway Museum in York, and more. I’m probably showing my age here, because I totally get the “Aidensfield Garage/police car” reference to the long-running TV series Heartbeat at Goathland.

If I have any minor quibbles, it’s that the perspective sometimes seems a little wonky and that – for me at least – everything looks a little too perfect due to the sharp vector-based illustration. A little bit of roughness and texture could perhaps have made things look a little less “shiny”.

Overall, though, I really quite like this map. In conjunction with the information in the accompanying leaflet, this provides a good overview of tourist-oriented bus services in and around Yorkshire. Also, you’ve gotta love Witchway and Bröntebus as names for routes! 3.5 stars!

Compare to this 1950s British Rail poster of Yorkshire.

Submission – New Houston METRORail Strip Map, 2017

June 16, 2017
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Photo submitted by Gram Brinson, who says:

They’ve somewhat improved it, I suppose…

Transit Maps says:

Yes, this is certainly an improvement over the previous version of this strip map (October 2016, 1.5 stars). In fact, it’s an almost point-for-point response to my criticisms from that review: removal of the large shaded areas denoting not-so-new lines, 45-degree angled labels instead of the neck-cracking 90-degree angles, and a very welcome reworking of the central stations inset that actually indicates which direction the Green and Purple lines run in along Capitol and Rusk streets.

The map still isn’t outstanding by any means, but it’s always nice to see simple improvements making a difference in usability. Two-and-a-half stars.

Fantasy Map: Roman Roads in 125AD as a Subway Map by Sasha Trubetskoy

June 6, 2017
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Here’s a map that’s right up my alley (I actually really wish I’d thought of doing it myself!) – a superb visualization of the major Roman roads of the second century AD. The legendary straightness of Roman roads makes them a great candidate for this style of diagram, and Sasha’s made it look very attractive, with a lovely colour palette and distinctive station dots. The very official-looking Roman Empire logos at the bottom left are also a nice touch.

You could argue that the Iberian peninsula looks a little huge and blobby compared to the rest of Europe, but this is a diagram, not a map, and even spacing of the cities/stations seems to be what Sasha is aiming for. The exclusion of Ireland and Scotland is a little more controversial – they weren’t technically part of the Empire, and Sasha says they were omitted for the sake of minimalism, but it just looks kind of weird for them to be completely missing.

He admits to taking a few liberties with routes and the names of some of the roads, but the Romans themselves didn’t always officially name these roads, while others had names that have been lost to the sands of time. Overall, this is a well-researched, nicely-designed map that holds a lot of interest for ancient history buffs. I love it – four stars!

Source: Sasha Maps website

Submission – Historical Maps: Trolleybus and Tram Diagrams of Kaliningrad, USSR, 1990

May 25, 2017
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Sent my way by Kyril Negoda are these two rather delightful little diagrams of trolleybus and tram services in Kaliningrad in 1990. This was just before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, so Kaliningrad Oblast was still physically connected to the rest of the USSR, rather than being an exclave like it is today.

Stylistically, the diagrams are very similar and have a pleasant, slightly childlike feeling to them. This is aided by the lovely slightly muted colour palette – not everything on a transit map has to be screamingly bright primaries!

Of the two, the trolleybus diagram (the first image above) is perhaps slightly more successful: the design hangs together better compositionally, and the whole thing seems a little better thought out than the tram diagram. The latter suffers a little from its labels pointing in pretty much every direction, as well as the slightly inelegant shape made where lines 1 and 8 join.

Overall however, these are pretty fantastic and a great example of late Soviet transit map design. Four stars!

Source: Trolleybus diagram | Tram diagram

GIF: The Evolution of Metro Systems in China and Taipei, 1990–2020 by Peter Dovak

May 20, 2017
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In the USA, new transit takes time. Whether it’s Environmental Impact Statements that take seven years to write, or tunnel boring machines that take longer than expected to do their work, or lawsuits from people angry that light rail might take away one of their beloved exit ramps, or mayors who want to rip up new streetcar tracks after they’ve been installed… the list goes on.

China, however, is a completely different matter… as this great timeline GIF from Peter Dovak illustrates. Using his lovely “Mini Metro” framework, he’s created a year-by-year breakdown of the growth of mass transit in China… and the end result is certainly breathtaking. Watch out especially from 2010 onwards, when the number of systems (and lines within individual systems) just explodes.

Source: Peter’s website (link no longer active)

Unofficial Map – Bay Area Rail One-Word Station Names by Brian Stokle

May 13, 2017
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A tongue-in-cheek rationalisation of Bay Area rail transit to remove all the slashes in those terribly long and indecisive station names: North Concord/Martinez, Warm Springs/South Fremont, etc. Amusing, but also a pointed look at the peculiarly American habit of attempting to appease everyone when it comes to naming stations.

Now, can someone do one of these for Washington, DC? 
*cough* U Street/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo *cough*

Source: Urban Life Signs

Submission – Unofficial Map of Helsinki Tram Network by Elmo Allén

May 11, 2017
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Submitted by Mikko. 

This is a really lovely little diagram, which treads the fine line between simplifying the network and depicting Helsinki’s complex geography very deftly. Near-future extensions (up to 2023) are depicted with hollow route lines and estimated opening dates for stations and new track.

One thing it does lack is a legend – while most of the map is pretty self-explanatory, an indication that Line 5 and the short 6T extension only run when cruise ships arrive and depart from the termini would be handy. As it is, they’re shown as thinner lines on the map with no explanation.

One minor technical thing: when route lines pass underneath another set of lines, their colours show through a tiny sliver of a gap between the topmost lines, which looks just a little messy. I’d personally adjust the thickness of the white keylines here to hide those completely.

Typographically, there’s a little bit of a stylistic disconnect between the big, rounded type used for main line stations and tram termini and the smaller condensed face used for the rest of the labels, but it’s not too bad. Generally, the requirement for bilingual labels has been handled quite well.

Overall, a very pleasing map, and certainly a lot better than the slightly stodgy official map. Three-and-a-half stars.

Source: Elmo’s website

Unofficial Map – New York City Subway Track Map by Andrew Lynch

May 11, 2017
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I’m kind of surprised that this hasn’t been done before – there are plenty of similar track maps out there for other major transit cities like London and Paris – but this is very nicely executed indeed. 

The map looks great, is easily understood even without consulting the legend, and has copious footnotes for those who want to really dive deep into the inner workings of the subway. Extra kudos for cleverly fitting the label “MANHATTAN” neatly within Central Park, solving an otherwise awkward problem.

Also: who knew that JFK was so freaking huge?

Head on over to Andrew’s project page for more information about the project, and to download a full PDF of the map for close-up study.

Source: vanshnookenraggen.com

Submission – Tram Map of Odessa, Ukraine by Art Lebedev Studios, 2017

May 6, 2017
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Sent my way by quite a few people, here’s yet another gorgeous transportation map from Art Lebedev Studios. It bears a lot of their usual trademarks –interesting and unusual station ticks, gradients between line colours at interchange stations, superb point-of-interest icons – but it also brings a playfulness that I haven’t really seen before in their work. The route lines have a very pleasant organic flow to them, and there are some very nice “flavour” icons dotted around the map as well.

The directional arrows for one way travel (seen in the second image above) are some of the nicest I’ve ever seen, subtly incorporated into the lines themselves but still very clear in their meaning. The more street-accurate “enlargements” at the main bus station and tram/airport bus interchanges are also extremely well implemented, and very useful for those less familiar with the city.

If I had one minor complaint, it’s that the point-of-interest icons are drawn with differing perspective: some are flat (the various markets and the Potemkin Stairs), others are more top than front, and others are more front than top. They’re all very well executed, but I personally find it just a little visually jarring to switch between viewpoints.

As always with a Lebedev Studios map, it’s not just about the finished piece, but the process – go and check out their page where they describe all the design options that were discussed, tested, discarded and implemented. The first solution is not always the best!

Our rating: Fantastic, organic, friendly mapping for transit. Four-and-a-half stars!

Source: Lebedev Studios

Submission – Official Map: New York City Ferry Services Map, 2017

May 1, 2017
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Submitted by David, who says:

NYC is relaunching its ferry service today, and they’ve produced a subway-style map to illustrate the service. The typeface and station symbols seem a bit more London than NYC to me, but otherwise seems like a decent map. What do you think?

Transit Maps says:

Apparently, the first morning of this “new and improved” ferry service didn’t go that well today, as the Mayor’s photo opportunity caused major service delays and prevented riders from boarding because the boat was filled up with dignitaries and media. Not exactly setting a positive tone from the start, but I digress…

The map, while competently drawn, really seems like a massive missed opportunity to me. It’s very empty, and fails to show how the ferry system connects with other transit options. Are there subway stations within a half-mile walk of the ferry wharves, especially on the Manhattan side where people may need to continue their journey to their office location? What about connecting bus services? The ferries don’t exist in isolation, but as part of a greater transportation whole, and that should really be reflected on the map. 

But, hey, we get to see where Central and Prospect parks are (not near the water).

Some other comments: there’s a couple of truncated labels (“-HATTAN” is the most egregious), and the coastline treatment veers awkwardly between very simple (Manhattan) and overly complex (Jamaica Bay).

Our rating: This really strikes me as a “bare minimum” effort. The new service has a map that shows where the ferries go, and that’s about it. Could be so much more with a little thought. Two stars.

Source: NYC Ferry