New Official Map: A Radial Diagram for Rail Services in Cologne, 2022

February 28, 2022
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I’ve had quite a few requests for this one and I’ve been meaning to write about it for quite a while, so here goes! This one’s definitely worth presenting as a before/after comparison – the new 2022 diagram above compared to the previous 2021 below:

It’s no secret that I’ve been somewhat skeptical of radial diagrams in the past – seeing them as perhaps a little too flashy for their own good and often being applied to cities where the topology simply doesn’t suit such an arrangement – so it’s fantastic to see one that works really, really well. Cologne is a very radial city, with major roads radiating out from the central core and mainline trains from the south having to loop around much of the western half of the city to get to the Hauptbahnhof, so the choice of a radial diagram is very appropriate.

The new diagram also executed superbly, with a great sense of balance and clarity to it. It definitely seems less cluttered than the previous version, even though it shows the same information. Intelligent choices have been made where the lines can’t fit into the radial scheme and very little feels forced or out of place. The one bit that doesn’t quite ring true to me is the placement of the Messe/Deutz station, which in real life is a straight shot across the Hohenzollern Bridge from the Haupthahnhof. However, within the limitations imposed by the radial structure, it works well enough.

The decision to remove the blobby fare zone boundary and replace it with subtle dashed tarifgrenze markers along each line is inspired and immediately makes the new diagram feel lighter and more spacious without the drab grey background surrounding the central part of the diagram.

Also of note is that this diagram calls out stations that are not accessible with a struck-through wheelchair icon, reversing the normal method of denoting accessible stations with an icon (as seen on the 2021 map). This is something that’s a point of contention in transit map design, with some designers saying that it’s a bad design practice to use an icon that shows a lack of something. However, you can’t deny that it makes the map so much cleaner when there’s only a few stations that don’t provide barrier-free access like here!

Finally, it’s interesting to note that while the design agency is the same for both diagrams – Die Informationsdesigner, based in Cologne – the new map gives credit to Benedikt Schmitz, who designed an award-winning radial map of Cologne as part of his bachelor’s thesis at the Cologne International School of Design in 2018. His design definitely forms the backbone of the new official map, so it’s great to see his contribution be officially recognised.

Our final word: Probably the best radial transit diagram that I’ve seen so far. It shows that this design style can be used for a real-world application when the style suits the city that it’s being used for.

Hey everyone! The large-format inkjet printer that I use to make maps has broken down, and I’m buying a brand-new one to replace it. While I can cover the cost of replacement, any assistance – even just a few dollars – would still be a massive help. If you’ve ever purchased a map, or read and enjoyed the blog, please consider making a small donation!

Source: Die Informationsdesigner website

Unofficial Map: An Isometric Map of the Barcelona Metro by Frank Rodriguez

February 25, 2022
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Here’s something that really shouldn’t work as well as it does, and yet it’s quite wonderful. I think part of the reason is that the isometric viewpoint is reminiscent of Barcelona’s actual positioning on the coast (although the real-world angle is quite a bit steeper than 30 degrees), and almost comes across as an aerial view of the city. The simple division of the map into ocean (blue), city (white) and coastal mountain range (green) also works nicely. This – combined with the the named rivers at opposite ends of the city – give a good sense of scale to the diagram, even if it’s not that geographically accurate. The distinctive station markers, sort of “reversed out” of the route line, are also quite nicely done.

Things aren’t perfect, though – my usual pet peeves of uncapitalised labels and labels set in the same colour as their route line rear their ugly heads once again. The uncapitalised labels could be excused as being a part of the distinctive look of the diagram, but it still hurts readability, especially with such a stylised typeface. (Or maybe this is one of those typefaces that eschew capital letters altogether?) The dotted line showing a future extension to join the two disparate parts of line 9 needs to have larger dots placed closer together as it’s very difficult to follow across the map at present. You could also argue that the isometric presentation forces the majority of the network to be crammed into about a third of the canvas, with a lot of empty ocean and mountain on either side, but the diagram is still quite clear even with that restriction.

Our final word: An interesting take on Barcelona’s Metro, and one that manages to be more than the sum of its parts – even with a few quirks and imperfections.

Source: Twitter

An Update on Printing

February 23, 2022
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As you may know, the Epson Stylus Pro 9900 that I use to print maps for the Transit Maps store has broken down. And not in a little way: the belt that drives the print head has snapped, and the print head itself finally needs to be replaced. After getting some estimates on repairs, I’ve decided that it actually makes more sense to get an entirely new unit, rather than refurbishing a printer that’s already more than a decade old – there’s no guarantee that something else won’t break immediately after these repairs!

Financially, it’s an unexpected but necessary expense if I want to continue making and printing maps like I do now, but it’s definitely something I love doing. While I can cover the cost with a little juggling of finances and payment plans, any assistance that you could offer – even just a few dollars – would be a massive help. If you’ve ever purchased a print, or read and enjoyed the blog, please consider making a small donation to my printer fund by using the form below – enter any amount that you’d like to give. All money received this way will go directly towards purchasing a new printer, an Epson SureColor P9000, the direct descendant of my 9900.

Thank you for your consideration!

Cam
Transit Maps

Submission – Historical Map: Streetcars of Kingston, Ontario, 1910 by Noah Gaffran

January 13, 2022
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Submitted by Noah, who says:

Here’s my map of the streetcar services operated by the Kingston, Portsmouth & Cataraqui Electric Railway in 1910. I was inspired to do this after seeing several maps of historic tram networks including the ones on this website [See my historical maps of Portland, Spokane and Yakima – Cam].

The system opened on Princess St in 1893. By around 1898 it had reached its largest extent as shown in this map.

In 1910 the system was increasing service on most routes but the Williamsville shuttle eventually closed due to poor track quality and ridership.

Unfortunatley, the system was plagued with financial troubles. In 1905 after a dispute with the city, the system was taken over by a group of citizen owners who continued to operate it as a public service, but it would never again turn a profit. Countless financial difficulties and disputes with the city and the electric utilities filled the 1910s and 1920s, but the streetcars kept running. It even survived a carbarn fire in 1909.

Sadly, a second fire in 1930 proved to be the last straw. All but one passenger trams were burned as well as the carbarn itself, and it was decided to abandon the unprofitable lines once and for all.

The styling for the diagram itself was inspired a bit by the Montreal metro’s dark background, bright lines, and combination of sharp corners in the landscape and smooth bends on the lines themselves. I went for bright fluorescent colours to stand out against the dark background. The route names are as far as I know accurate but I added the numbers. Just for fun I also added the mainline connections of the time as well.

Transit Maps says:

Nice work, Noah! I always love it when someone takes the time to research and document old streetcar networks, preserving that knowledge for the future. I often find that information about them is very fragmented… a bit in this book, something on a wiki there, an old diagram from somewhere else, and so on… so compiling everything in one easy-to-read map is a great way to consolidate that knowledge.

Design-wise, I like the dark background contrasted with the bright route lines… very stylish! I wonder if there’s a better way to show the main line railroads, as the dashed lines look like under construction roads at first glance. A thinner solid line in a colour that’s not quite as bright as the streetcar lines (a purple/mauve maybe?) might work.

As this is very definitely a map and not a diagram, perhaps you need a scale bar and maybe even some sort of period-appropriate compass rose. Labelling the bodies of water would be good as well.

The main area that needs some love is typography. It looks like you’ve used Microsoft’s Calibri throughout, which is a fairly workmanlike, generic “Office” typeface – not really period appropriate or visually striking. If you have access to them, then an early 20th century gothic typeface like Franklin Gothic or News Gothic could be a better choice. Push yourself here, as good typography can really elevate a project like this.

Submission – Unofficial Future Map: Consolidated Rail Map of San Francisco by Griffin Ashburn

January 10, 2022
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Submitted by Griffin, who says:

Attached is a diagram/sort-of fantasy map I recently made showing all the various rail services and connections in San Francisco. I’ve never been a fan of how Muni shows service connections on their official map – BART is typically included, though never Caltrain, nor BART’s connection to the airport, which I think is a fairly important to have.

I also decided to include the F Market & Wharves street car line, which while not connected that seamlessly to the rest of the Muni “metro” system, still serves as an important line for commuters in the city. Also included is the upcoming central subway expansion on the T Third Street line, which brings the line north into downtown with new underground stops north of market street.

Finally, it’s worth noting that this map depicts Muni’s service patterns prior to all of the various COVID cuts, with all light rail lines continuing downtown under Market Street.

This was the map of any sort that I’ve made, done as a challenge to myself to see if I could even do such a thing. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out (or honestly more shocked I was even able to get it done).

Transit Maps says:

Welcome to the wonderful world of transit map making, Griffin!

This is a good, solid effort that builds upon the existing Muni style to include more unified transit information for travellers, which is pretty much always a good thing. Showing BART all the way down to San Francisco International Airport is a great idea, so well done there. It’d be nice to perhaps show the SamTrans “SFO” bus from the airport terminals to Milbrae (which are timed to connect with Caltrain services) just to provide a more complete picture of transit options at the airport, but that may be outside the scope of a rail diagram like this.

If there’s an area that does need work, it’s the labelling of stations. Even though the official Muni Metro map does it, I will never be in favour of labels that are the same colour as the line they serve – there simply isn’t enough contrast between yellow text and a white background to be easily readable, for example. The different colours used also make the map look disjointed and give visual preference to darker labels. All the labels represent a station, so they should all have the same importance in the diagram’s hierarchy. Pick one dark hue with sufficient contrast to the background – it doesn’t have to be black, as the London Underground map shows – and stick with it throughout.

Similarly, I just can’t endorse labels set all in lower-case. Just don’t. Proper capitalisation of place names aids readability, and looks so much better.

Also, work a bit on the placement of your labels relative to the stations they serve – be consistent with how far away they are and whether they sit above/below or alongside the station symbol. The label for the SF Zoo at the end of the L-Taraval line seems to be floating in empty space, for example.

Finally, this isn’t really a comment on this map but on the whole Market Street arrangement of services, with the F streetcars running on the surface, the Muni Metro cars on the first underground level and BART at the bottom – all requiring some kind of transfer between them. Is this level of detail – splitting all these services up into discrete “boarding areas” joined by a connecting transfer line – necessary on a map like this, or is the detail as shown here okay? It’s something to ponder…

Our last word: A very solid first effort (I’ve seen plenty of unified San Francisco rail maps that aren’t as good as this), though some love could be given to the labelling to make it even better.

Source: Griffin’s website

Historical Map: Baltimore United Railways & Electric Co., 1929

January 7, 2022
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A charming map of streetcar services – and a few of those newfangled gas buses! – in central Baltimore from 1929. Points of interest are clearly illustrated, and the map is surrounded by vignettes of life and architecture in this “historic, pleasant, thriving city”. A prominent cartouche proclaims that “STREET CARS and BUSES in Baltimore go wherever there is anything to see…” and little streetcars have been drawn running along major thoroughfares.

As a side note, the United Railways & Electric Co. as shown on this map declared bankruptcy in 1933, and was reorganized into the Baltimore Transit Co. in 1935. The last streetcar in Baltimore ran until 1963.

Source: David Rumsey Map Collection

Submission – Fantasy Map: Service Patterns on the GO Transit Lakeshore Line by Ze Han

January 5, 2022
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Submitted by Ze, who says:

As a little mapping exercise I made a fantasy-ish strip map today of what tiered service patterns on the GO Transit Lakeshore Line could hypothetically look like after the Regional Express Rail (RER) project is finished. Some of it is fairly reasonable/already proposed/under construction, such as the East Harbour or Park Lawn stations, Eglinton Crosstown, Ontario Line, etc.; while some parts of the map are a little more far in the future or are unproposed thus far, such as a GO service to Brantford, Cobourg, Uxbridge, etc.

I based the map design on West Japan Railway Company’s strip maps as I wanted to kind of demonstrate a parallel as to how Torontonians/people from the GTA can reimagine the GO Transit system; not just as a simple commuter rail system, but a more complex rapid transit or regional system with different service patterns, like in Japan. Unlike Japan, however, I also included some “limited express” services that I’d imagine GO could hypothetically operate as well, adopting the “limited express” model that Japan Railways employs for longer-distance rail.

Transit Maps says:

A rather lovely hypothetical diagram here, and one that definitely wears its influences proudly on its sleeve – the JR West lineage is immediately obvious, right down to the “some trains do not stop at this station” central black dot symbol and leader lines joining stations to connecting services information.

If there’s one thing I’d like to see as an improvement, it’d be a consistently-applied horizontal grid. At the moment, most of the routes on the opposite sides of Union Station don’t quite line up horizontally and it creates a bit of visual imbalance – something is “off”, even if the viewer doesn’t quite know what is causing it. I’ve demonstrated how using a grid and aligning horizontal elements to it across the entire width of the diagram could work below. Note how aligning routes to the grid allows the ST and LE branches to mirror each other exactly on their unified horizontal axis instead of the curve on the ST branch finishing further to the right as it does on Ze’s version.

Of course, the grid could then be used as a way to place the connecting services information consistently as well, and so on… forming an underlying basis for the whole diagram.

Our final word: An excellent application of a proven strip map design that I feel could be made even better by adherence to an underlying grid to give a little bit more structure to the diagram.

Submission – Historical Map Recreation: Southern Electric 1934 Carriage Map by Paul Cooper

January 3, 2022
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Submitted by Paul, who says:

Attached is my re-draw of the Southern Electric Map, dated 1934, showing the electrified services (using 3rd rail top-contact 750v DC) serving South London. These were displayed in frames inside carriages, normally printed on heavy-grade card.

The temptation to correct some of the ‘issues’ of the original (the station names appearing over lines, odd spacing of lettering that doesn’t appear to be consistent and some rather interesting angles for the station names) was real, but I went with originality…

I believe this was one of the last designs to show the geographical nature of the network, before the tube-inspired topological maps took hold.

Was a real labour of love to redraw – but it’s a lovely piece to have on display.

Transit Maps says:

I managed to track down an image of the original map that Paul has so lovingly recreated and it looks like he’s done a really fantastic job of it. Perhaps the background is a little overly dark and the blue a little too aqua – but if Paul’s aiming for an aged, yellowed paper look then it’s actually quite effective.

I definitely agree with Paul’s view on alterations to these old maps when digitally recreating them. Generally, I’ll only ever fix egregious spelling mistakes and leave the rest pretty much as it was on the original. I find that you can actually learn quite a bit about design trends and typography of different eras if you do – compare the relatively loose letter spacing of the 1950s to the extremely tight letter spacing of the 1970s, for example.

Well done, Paul – this looks great and you should be proud of your efforts to recreate it so faithfully.

Historical Map: Express Road Services Through The Thames Valley, c. 1950

January 2, 2022
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Starting the New Year off right with this lovely illustrated map of coach services from London through the Thames Valley to destinations like Oxford, Reading and Worcester. Designed by illustrator Derrick Sayer, the simplified route diagram is presented on the back of a beautiful swan, acting as a symbol of the Thames. Another contemporaneous poster by the same illustrator uses a jumping fish as the backdrop to the diagram, to slightly less visual effect.

At the time, South Midland Motor Services were an operating division of the Thames Valley Traction Co., explaining why routes of both companies are shown on the map. Service to Oxford ran about once an hour, alternating between the Henley and High Wycombe routes.

Source: David Rumsey Map Collection

Submission – Unofficial Map: NYC Ferries by Evelyn Fischer

November 1, 2021
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Submitted by Evelyn, who says:

Hello! I just thought I’d send you my attempt at making the NYC Ferry network a bit less intimidating to navigate. While many of the issues are with the network itself (the stopping patterns are absolutely bizarre), I’ve always thought the official map made the network far harder to navigate than it should be. So here’s my attempt to fix that!

Transit Maps says:

Like Evelyn, I’ve never really been a fan of the official NYC Ferries map: it’s sloppily drawn and can’t decide if it’s a Vignelli-style diagram or a geographic map. Eventually it fails at being either, with too much room being taken up just to show the trip all the way out to Rockaway that could be better used to expand the complex East River routings and some absurdly overly-detailed coastline in Jamaica Bay.

Evelyn’s solution is distinctly diagrammatic and just looks so much better. The bold line colors cased in black really pop out of the sombre blue and grey background and are easier to follow as result. Some slight tweaking of the official colours has been made, especially to the Soundview route, which is much lighter than the official dark purple. Perhaps this makes the Rockaway and Soundview colours a bit too similar, but some tinkering could fix that pretty easily.

Labelling is generally good, though perhaps I would have stacked the Pier 11/Wall St label just to keep it well away from the St. George route line. The Brookfield Place Terminal and Corlears Hook labels are the only other area of worry: it might be possible to slide Brookfield Place a little further to the left to get a bit more empty space between the two labels.

Of particular note is that even though this is a schematic diagram, Evelyn has implied the long haul out to Rockaway without having to take up huge amounts of empty space in doing so – great work!

One thing I personally don’t like on ferry maps is too many sharp curves – ferries don’t make tight 90-degree turns out on the water, but big, lazy arcs. So the section from Astoria to Roosevelt Island to Long Island City – a whole bunch of stacked 90-degree angles – bothers me on both versions of the map. I feel there has to be a solution that looks more naturalistic: maybe the route uses curves similar to those at the Brooklyn Navy Yard stop at Roosevelt Island, just to break up the rigidness of that part of the route?

Other things I’d like to see: some sort of dash on the Governors Island (note that there’s no apostrophe in the name!) route line to immediately indicate its seasonal nature. The Staten Island Ferry – no, it’s not a NYC Ferry route, but it absolutely should be shown as an alternative for the travelling public. Finally, I believe that a route from Pier 11 to Coney Island will be launching before the end of the year, so it’s be great to see a version that incorporates that.

Our final word: Compact, bright, and more than a little bit fun. Really, really nice work!