Submitted by Maximiliano, who says:

It’s been a few years since the last time you checked out what was happening in Santiago de Chile [I last reviewed the official map in 2017 – Cam]. Well, times haven’t been too kind to us down here, but I don’t want to go into details about our current and future “troubles”. They’re too complicated, so anyways…

We have a new map for the Metro de Santiago network. And a good one at that too… [though] it looks suspiciously similar to the unofficial map designed by Laura Sandoval in 2018.

Transit Maps says:

For me, the resemblance of this new official map to Laura’s diagram is only superficial: really only apparent because the official map has become more diagrammatic, losing the busy street grid that used to be such a feature. This is not nearly as schematic as Laura’s diagram, with lots of pseudo-geographical changes in direction still apparent. Though the form of the map has changed, it still uses a lot of the same design language as the 2017 map – note the distinctive terminus station markers – which is nice to see from a continuity point of view.

I do feel that the top part of the map seems a little cramped in comparison with the bottom half… some more care with the vertical spacing of stations from top to bottom using a grid could have helped here.

Very strangely, the map layers the river on top of the lines that cross it. While this is technically correct (the lines run in tunnels under the river), it’s simply not an important or useful piece of information and makes the route lines look disjointed and discontinuous.

Speaking of the river itself, while I appreciate the effort, I don’t think that the wave pattern texture used is particularly effective or aesthetically pleasing. A little more craftsmanship here might have resulted in something a bit better.

Our final word: A shift to a more diagrammatic representation of a growing network results in something that’s perhaps just slightly better than what came before it.

Source: Metro de Santiago website