Photo – Official Map: Atlanta Streetcar In-car Strip Map

December 31, 2014
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Here’s a photo from long-time correspondent Matt’ Johnson of the in-car strip map for the just-opened-yesterday Atlanta Streetcar. I sort of get a Transport for London/Tube Map vibe from it, and that’s a good thing in my eyes. Simple, clean, bold, easy to read, and it doesn’t try to over-complicate or “dress up” what is a very simple loop system.

It’s not completely perfect: all the station names are left-aligned and aligned to the left edge of the stop markers, except at Park Place, where the label has to be pushed further left so it doesn’t overlap the stop marker or the route line. Having set up that exception to the rule, the map then fails to use it for the Luckie at Cone stop, which just looks a little cramped for room.

I also think that the label for Woodruff Park might have benefited from being set in one line instead of two: it gets a little too close to Park Place for my liking. I also think the placement of the “Express Bus” labels is a little inconsistent, but the Centennial Olympic Park stop really makes things difficult in that regard.

Our rating: Simple, clean and nicely legible from a distance. More strip maps should be like this. Three-and-a-half stars.

Source: tracktwentynine/Instagram

Photo: Stride Gum Advert, Montreal, 2008

December 30, 2014
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You know, because the flavour lasts a long, long time.

Source: kellergraham/Flickr

Submission – Historical Map: Berlin U-Bahn Map, 1961

December 28, 2014
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Submitted by procrastinator-penguin, who says:

Love your blog and it would be an honour to be featured! I found this map of Berlin by accident, and have no idea of the date, but I note The Wall is still marked on it. Personally, I think it’s quite beautiful in a way, if a little messy – I really don’t understand the red line well. I like the bold line colours, though.

Transit Maps says:

Thanks for this great submission! The history of transit in Berlin is fascinating, and has been the subject of many previous posts on this blog. Fortunately, thanks to the comprehensive database of Berlin transit maps at the berliner-verkehr.de website, it’s pretty easy to date this map to 1961 – the very year that the Berlin Wall was erected.

The presence of the orange line shown between Leopoldplatz and Spichernstrasse (known as Line “G” at the time, now part of the U9) dates the map a little more precisely to around late August 1961. By this time, the Wall had been constructed, but the map still makes no differentiation between stations on opposite sides of it. The 1963 version draws U-Bahn lines in East Berlin with thinner strokes, and by 1966 the now infamous Geisterbahnhöfe have appeared, with stations on the eastern side of the boundary being crossed out.

The red lines aren’t actually that hard to understand with a little research: this was known as “Line A” at the time and had two main branches – from Krumme Lanke to Pankow (in East Berlin) and from Reichskanzlerplatz to Pankow as well. The short stub between Richard-Wagner-Platz and Deutsche Oper stations operated as a shuttle train only.

As for the look – it’s perhaps a little chaotic in its layout, but still hangs together pretty well, helped by some lovely hand lettering.

Submission – Fantasy Map: Southern Ontario Frequent/Rapid Transit Map by Jimmy Wu

December 23, 2014
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Submitted by Jimmy, who says:

I had initially completed this fantasy map of the rapid and frequent transit networks in and around Toronto and Ottawa in early 2014, but I was a bit hesitant to ask you to review it because it is one of the first transit maps I’ve made; now that the year is over, I would appreciate a review with some possible feedback that I can implement in a possible new iteration. Some things to note: I chose to include routes that were fast and/or frequent; ideally, every route denoted on this map with the exception of the regional rail lines would have frequencies of 10 minutes or less. The numbering of the routes is inconsistent because I haven’t given much thought into whether the operation of all the services would be integrated; I had only intended to illustrate the routes as those that can be accessed with the PRESTO fare payment card (which is why I have left out some route numbers in many ‘Terminating Services’ boxes, and in the legend).

Transit Maps says:

One of the first transit maps you’ve made, Jimmy? Wow. Seriously, this is super impressive work. There’s a great visual hierarchy, with each mode clearly and easily differentiated from each other (the “double stroke” for light rail is particularly effective). Definitely puts me in mind of this great Paris/Île-de-France map (Jan 2014, 4.5 stars), which sets the standard for this type of multimodal transit diagram in my eyes.

There’s a bit of a dichotomy between your stated goal of showing frequent services and the depiction of the regional rail – it’s the most visually prominent service and has the thickest line stroke, but actually has the least frequent service. On a true frequency map, thicker lines are used to indicate more service, not less. That said, an addition to the legend of expected headways for each service would suffice to indicate service frequency, as I do like the way that the regional rail forms a strong visual backbone for the map.

You do need to work out what your route numbering system is going to be and apply it consistently to the map and the legend. It makes finding the numerous routes easier, and is essential for assisting colour-blind users.

A minor nit-pick: where light rail lines split in two (like with the ION light rail in Waterloo), you need to indicate direction of travel along the two separate segments.

I’ll also note that this map is physically huge – 74″ x 46″ (or 188cm x 118cm) – with some really tiny type. Not ideal for printing out, but fine for viewing as a PDF on a screen where the map can be zoomed in to show greater detail.

Our rating: Looks gorgeous with great visual flow and hierarchy. Just needs some usability tweaks to be truly excellent. Four well-earned stars.

Photo: Budapest Metro Line 4 Strip Map

December 23, 2014
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At Moricz Zsigmond korter station. One of my favourite on-platform strip maps. There’s no ambiguity at all about which stations you can reach from each side of the platform, and the current station is clearly highlighted. Lovely work.

Source: Romeodesign/Flickr

Historical Map: “Wonders of New York” by Nils Hansell, c. 1953-1955

December 20, 2014
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Here’s a gorgeous and beautifully detailed map of New York (well, Manhattan, but at least it says there are “many places of interest on the other side of the river”!). It was designed by Nils Hansell, a graphic designer and sailing enthusiast who also worked for some years at IBM (according to the blurb over at the site I found the map, anyway).

As well as some 300-odd numbered points of interest (as seen in the detail image above), it also features a neat little schematic of the subway system in Manhattan at the lower right of the map, still divided up into the three operating companies – BMT (Green), IND (Red) and IRT (Blue).

The map also shows the last vestiges of New York’s once-extensive elevated railway lines: the Third Avenue El, which looks like it’s been cut back to its final southern terminus at Chatham Square. Previously, branches went all the way down to South Ferry (closed in 1950) and City Hall (closed in 1953). In 1955, elevated rail service in Manhattan ended, which gives us a pretty good date for this map of somewhere between 1953 and 1955.

Source: David Rumsey Map Collection

Official Map: New Mexico Rail Runner Commuter Rail (“Desktop” Version)

December 19, 2014
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Following up on the previous post about the “mobile” version of the Rail Runner map – the one that gets served to smartphones and tablets when they’re browsing the mobile version of Rio Metro’s website – here’s the “desktop” version (what you see on a real computer).

Overall, it’s a little better in my eyes. The similar-looking connection icons are a little larger on this map (big enough that I can see it’s a pair of dice on the casino shuttle, not poker chips as I previously thought!), so they’re not as much of a problem here. I still think that simpler, less literal icons would work better – just the dice without the clutter of the bus for the casino connection, for example – but it’s an improvement of sorts.

On this map, each station is represented by its own unique icon – mainly architectural, but with a few historical or flora/fauna icons thrown in as well. They’re nicely drawn, but a little indistinct at smaller sizes. It took me a while to make out the “hummingbird drinking out of a flower” icon, for example.

The one really glaring aspect of this map is the decision to make the Rail Runner’s route line exactly the same colour and thickness as the highways, making them almost impossible to tell apart. The route line would look great in red on the nicely textured grey background.

 I’m also not really in favour of the all caps Bank Gothic labels for the station names: it takes up a lot of room and makes things harder to read, and also clashes stylistically with the Myriad used elsewhere on the map.

Our rating: Better than the mobile version: a pretty solid effort. Three stars.

Source: Rio Metro’s desktop website

NEWS: Official 2012 Vignelli New York Subway Diagram Posters Available For Purchase!

December 17, 2014
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If you ever wanted your own copy of the latest iteration of this design classic, here’s your chance. The newly-formed design firm of Waterhouse Cifuentes (founded by Massimo Vignelli’s collaborators Yoshiki Waterhouse and Beatriz Cifuentes) is now offering superb prints on their SuperWarmRed Designs website.

As the description on the website says:

This poster of the MTA New York City Subway Diagram was designed in 2012 by Vignelli Associates and is used in the MTA’s Weekender website and app. Using concepts from Massimo Vignelli’s iconic Subway Map design of 1972, the new diagram was informed by satellite data and rebuilt for greater clarity and legibility. Revised to reflect the current subway system, colors and nomenclature, the poster has been printed in vivid Pantone and Hexachrome inks on acid-free archival cover-weight paper. While supplies last. (36″ x 45″ unframed)

These stunning posters are priced as you might expect a highly collectible, limited edition print of a design classic to be: standard posters are $300, while a poster signed by Massimo Vignelli, Waterhouse and Cifuentes will set you back $1,200. Sadly, out of my price range unless all my readers want to chip in a few dollars each and buy me a nice Christmas present (a man can dream, right?)

One thing’s for sure: the print quality is absolutely impeccable. PANTONE inks plus Hexachrome inks! As a tweet from the firm to me says, this was a very deliberate decision, designed to escape the very limited colour gamut of traditional CMYK printing. It’s a decision that has paid off, as the colours look super vibrant and crisp in the preview images.

Standard Poster – $300 | Autographed Poster – $1,200

Submission – Official Map: New Mexico Rail Runner Commuter Rail

December 16, 2014
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Submitted by Isaac Fischer, who says:

The New Mexico Rail Runner has two versions of the system map. This version (a few years old; the Montaño station is now open) is my favorite – I definitely approve of Rio Metro’s design style. However, I have a few issues: first, the thin, gray lines shown in the background are bus routes. Since the train route is presented as a straight line, this makes it difficult to make the bus routes correspond to the train. (Albuquerque is all right, but in Santa Fe they had to rotate the entire bus network, and they had to make NM-599 a horseshoe shape.) What do you think of the map? And what do you think of the conflict between the linear route and the actual geography?

Transit Maps says:

Interestingly, the New Mexico Rail Runner website serves up two completely different system maps depending on whether you access the site on a desktop computer or a mobile device.

This is the “mobile” map, and while it makes sense to have a simpler map for smartphones/tablets, it’s never a great idea to have an out of date map (like this one) on one platform but not on the other (the “desktop” map shows the open Montaño station). It’s also arguable as to whether this map is actually simpler. It does have a nice straight route line (which is great in theory but spoiled somewhat by the hackneyed “railroad track” effect applied to the path), but the road grid/bus routes behind each stop are simply ludicrous. They’re of absolutely no use at all and simply serve to add background clutter to the map. The connecting bus service icons already do the necessary work, and they could be further enhanced with the addition of route numbers instead of the ridiculous background web of bus routes.

Speaking of the icons, they could really use some work to simplify and differentiate them from each other. Three very similar bus icons and three very similar shuttle icons don’t make for immediate comprehension. And what is that superimposed over the casino shuttle icon? I’m guessing poker chips based on context, but visually it could be just about anything circular. The circular shapes are all of 8 pixels high on the final map – simplify, simplify, simplify!

Our rating: I’m certainly not as happy with this as Isaac is, as I feel that the designer has taken something very simple and overworked it a bit. The end result is tolerable, but there’s a lot of unnecessary background noise and visual clutter. Two-and-a-half stars.

Source: Rio Metro mobile website