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

Project: 1989 East Berlin Bahnhofsübersicht Map Digital Recreation

April 30, 2017
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I’ve long admired this fascinating map of the railway network in and around East Berlin, produced at the tail end of the Cold War in 1989. However, the only copy of it I’d ever seen was a horribly oversaturated scan that I reviewed over on Transit Maps back in 2012. So I was absolutely overjoyed when I was pointed towards this far superior scan (left), which is both higher resolution and much more colour accurate: for a start, you can actually tell the difference between the dark green S-Bahn and light green regional lines!

Despite the better quality, the scan was still unsuitable for Photoshop-based restoration and reproduction, so I decided – as I often do – to recreate it completely in Adobe Illustrator. Along the way, I discovered many interesting things. For starters, the map was almost certainly printed with five spot colours: dark green, light green, blue, black and light grey. Unfortunately, this does lead to some serious registration problems on the original map (mainly due to the cheap, flimsy paper the map is printed on), but at least the colours are bright and distinct.

Next, the typography is an interesting mix of the expected – Helvetica for subheadings and Univers Bold for all the station labels – and the more esoteric. I had a very difficult time matching the font used for the larger light grey text: no common historically-accurate sans serif typefaces seemed to combine its distinctive lower-case “k” and interesting top-heavy “ß” glyph. Almost by chance, I came across a reference to a typeface called Maxima, designed by Gert Wunderlich for the East German type foundry Typoart in the 1960s. I tested it out and it was an almost exact match: mystery solved!

Interestingly, the train icon used on the map to signify an interchange with mainline rail services is absolutely identical to the one digitised in Erik Spiekermann’s FF Transit Pict, which certainly saved me some time because I didn’t have to redraw the darn thing! This really isn’t that surprising, as FF Transit was originally designed as a custom typeface for Berlin’s transit network after reunification.

From a technical viewpoint, the map is quite well drawn, though I did have to apply some corrections to account for the terrible ink registration. Some of the labels along the north-east branch to Werneuchen seem to be misplaced in relation to their station dots, but I’ve left them as they were on the original map, because I’m making a recreation, not designing a new version of the map.

Comments welcome! Prints of this map are available in the Transit Maps store – click here!

Submission – Official Map: WEGO Bus Map, Niagara Falls, Canada

April 26, 2017
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Submitted by Lucas, who says:

This is the official map of Canadian Niagara Falls’s WEGO Bus service. I personally like the way the falls are depicted and the river’s sharp 90 degree turn in the lower right hand corner of the map, which I think serves as a nice visual hook. I don’t really like the way the Orange Line is treated, as it is unclear where exactly it runs and terminates once it merges with the Green Line.

Transit Maps says:

Yes, the illustrative approach to the falls themselves is quite lovely, as is the subtle “water” texture in the river below the falls. The actual routes on the map are a different story, however – especially in the central part where the three WEGO routes interact with each other. That area is quite cramped and crowded, which means that there’s not really enough room for all the labels, which need all sorts of angles and leader lines to squeeze in. 

The problem is exacerbated by the silly need to label some stations multiple times – once for each colour! (If you ever want to know why I advocate against labels in the same colour as their line, this is one of the main reasons.) Queen Victoria Park is the worst offender with three separate labels, two of which are set in condensed type and one that is not. However, just a little bit north, the Clifton Hill/Hornblower Niagara Cruises stop only gets one label (in blue), probably because the designer started crying at the thought of having to triplicate that long name.

Another problem is that when labels cross route lines, they get a white keyline to separate them from the same-coloured background, which make them stand out in comparison to other labels. If the labels were good old black instead of coloured, maybe this keyline wouldn’t be needed, or one that was the background green could be used for a subtler effect.

As for the Orange Line, I think the main problem is that the main map and the inset tell different stories, which makes things ambiguous – this is never a good outcome on a transit map!

Our rating: Some nice decorative touches, but a bit of a mess as an actual map. It’s usable, but it certainly makes everything more complex and messy than it really needs to be. Two-and-a-half stars.

Source: WEGO website

Question: Have you ever seen a ski resort map in the style of a transit map?

April 18, 2017
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Q Have you ever seen a ski resort map in the style of a transit map? I was thinking about attempting it, not sure if it is even feasible.

A I thought it was pretty much compulsory for every ski resort in the world to have a James Niehues panoramic painting for their resort map, so it’s no surprise that I haven’t actually come across a transit map-styled one yet.

The closest I’ve seen are these maps by Frozen Underground, but they just link ski resorts together using arbitrary “routes” and the well-worn iconography of the Tube Map, so that’s not quite what you’re after.

If it’s something you want to attempt, then go ahead and be the first – though I personally wonder about the usefulness of it. The big advantage of the painted panorama style that dominates this particular market is that it allows riders to visualise how the trails and the mountain interact with each other. Wide open slopes versus narrow cat track through dense trees; gentle bunny hill versus double-black diamond dropping down into a sheer bowl… the painted map makes this instantly understandable. It gives instant scale and dimension to the mountain, which any stylised diagram is going to find difficult.

Has anyone out there seen a diagrammatic ski resort map? I’d love to see it if you have!

Update: And of course – almost instantly – Craig Williams tells me that Kenneth Field made one for Breckenridge, Colorado back in 2009. 

A Look at Amtrak Under the Proposed Federal Budget

April 15, 2017
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A federal budget outline from the Trump Administration looks to slash funding for rail transportation, including a complete elimination of federal funds for long-distance Amtrak routes like the Empire Builder, Southwest Chief and California Zephyr. 

The map above, adapted from my Amtrak as Subway Map project, shows what the “national” passenger rail network could look like under this proposal: isolated, separate rail services, with no cross-country connections and over 220 stations without Amtrak rail service. Chicago, once a thriving national rail hub, now only directly serves its immediate region and loses connections to New York, Boston, Washington DC, New Orleans, California, Seattle and Portland.

As well as this defunding of Amtrak, the budget proposal would cut almost $500 million from the TIGER grant program, and $2.3 BILLION from the successful New Starts funding program, often used by cities to kick-start new transit projects.

Read more in this National Association of Railroad Passengers press release, and make your voice heard if you oppose massive transit infrastructure cuts like this that affect so many people across America.

Submission – Fantasy Map: Vitória, Brazil (yes, another one!) by Vinicius

April 14, 2017
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Hey Cameron. It was so interesting to stumble upon a fantasy map of Vitória, Brazil on Transit Maps. The story was very touching to me — just like Frederico, I also moved away from Vitória, and also made a fantasy map of its transit network as a way to connect back to a city I still care so much.

My project was supposed to be more artistic than accurate in any way. I finished it last January, and my ultimate goal was just to have a map that my close friends could hang in their walls :).

As a San Francisco resident, BART was my main inspiration for the way the map is composed. Vitória is an island, so its geographic aspects felt as important as it does to the Bay Area.

It’s very interesting to compare my end result to Frederico’s approach. While I didn’t use any of the proposed BRT lines as a reference, there’s a lot of similarities. Also, we both revived the extinguished waterways that Vitória had with its neighbor cities by keeping the old stations.

One particular aspect that I think is worth mentioning, is how I’ve included in the diagram a line that covers the island surroundings. Thinking about the social and political aspects of such line, it would probably be the hardest part to put out of this fantasy map, as it directly connects very poor neighborhoods like Andorinhas to rich parts of the city like Praia do Canto.

Transit Maps says:

Until Frederico submitted his fantasy map last week, I had barely even heard of Vitória, so to have two fantasy maps of it submitted in such short time is kind of awesome… and both created by ex-pats as a reminder of home. How wonderful!

Vinicius’ map is very colourful and stylish, helped along by a bright palette and what looks very much like the Toronto Subway’s Art Deco-styled corporate typeface. It’s rather lovely, and looks great set in all caps, something I’m not always in favour of.

The balance between stylised route lines and geographical grounding is deftly handled: there’s a real sense of place to this map, and Vitória’s island nature is illustrated nicely.

A few minor points: the way the purple “V” line integrates with the other lines at Andorinhas is a little awkward: there should be a simpler solution than this. 

The station dots at Jardim Limoeiro are the only set that aren’t at a standard angle: this wouldn’t be a problem in itself as they’re just following the curve of the lines around the corner. However, it’s unfortunate that the dots are so close to the dashed grey line below it, as this really highlights the non-standard angle.

Finally, the southern end of the apple green “L” line seems to extend too far past the terminus station in comparison to other line ends.

All in all, a very attractive and stylish fantasy map. Great work!

Historical Cutaway View: Proposed State Street Subway, Chicago, c.1940

April 13, 2017
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Here’s a fantastic (if slightly idealised) view of the then still-under-construction State Street Subway from a c.1940 postcard. This view looks northward along State Street from Adams, and shows the Monroe-Adams mezzanine. Note the direct access from the mezzanine level to the basement level of businesses on either side of State Street – now long since closed.

Text on the reverse side of the postcard reads:

Cut-away view of Chicago’s subway in the Central Business District. Shown are the main tubes; the downtown center platform, which is 3500 feet long; the two-way escalators to the mezzanines with store connections; and the State St. surface level. Features of the subway are ventilation, illumination, escalators, safety, comfort.

Source: CERA Chicago website – link no longer active