Submitted by Bruce Englehardt, who says:
It’s been a while since your last review of the St. Louis MetroLink map (Dec. 2011, a generous 3 stars), and it has since been updated. Of note is the new Gateway Arch symbol and redundant labels. The labeling for stations seems more consistent overall and they’ve retained the parking labels (though now with colors that could be confused with connecting lines/services).
Transit Maps says:
Judging by the PDF’s metadata, this map is actually from 2014, so I’ve been a little slow in getting around to it! This is generally much better than the previous map, with the labelling being the biggest improvement. I also like the cream/beige background – it makes the map a little less sterile – and the Gateway Arch information is very welcome. I don’t even mind the duplication of information: it’s aimed at tourists, who can sometimes need all the help they can get in an unfamiliar city.
The weird placement of the Metro logo – not really locking up to any other element – makes me think that the background has been extended to add the heading and make the map taller for this on-line PDF. I suspect that the strip maps on trains would be cropped where the Mississippi River cuts off at the top and bottom – can anyone confirm this for me?
My biggest gripe with the map are the coloured circles for parking. Like Bruce says, most systems use disks like this to indicate interchanges with other lines, so there’s the potential for confusion there.
Secondly, it forces you to look at the legend to have any idea what the dots mean… the icons have no contextual clues at all. If I was doing this map, I’d use a universally-recognised “P” icon for parking, “P+” for extended parking, and a “$” or “P$” for paid parking. There is plenty of room on this map for slightly bigger – but still very simple – icons.
Finally, if a map user has protanopia – a type of color-blindness – the icons for free long-term parking and paid parking look almost identical, which could be a bit of a problem. For this reason, I always make “shape-only” icons like these use different simple shapes – circle, square, triangle – in addition to colour to prevent any possible confusion.
Our rating: Much improved graphically, but those parking icons are really poor. Still three stars, because I was way too generous last time around.
Source: Official St. Louis Metro website