Submission – Official Map: Szeged, Hungary, 2013

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Official Maps

Submitted by fuckyeahgmetro, who says:

Hi, this is the official map of SzKT, the company running trams and trolley buses in the Hungarian city Szeged. I think it is in a very good place to run for the worst transit map “designed” ever!

Transit Maps says:

I’ll certainly agree that this map is really quite atrocious. But it’s not even really close to the very worst transit maps out there.

It’s certainly a lazy, slipshod effort — looking like some bad Photoshop/MS Paint work superimposed on a fairly standard map of the city. The labelling is extremely poor, with type in many different sizes and at completely random angles to fit it all in. The symbols for stations are also pretty ugly, especially in the sections where three or more routes share the same track.

Despite all this, it’s still actually possible to work out what’s going on fairly easily — possibly only because it’s a small and basic system — and this is what saves it from joining the ranks of the absolute worst maps.

The other thing I note looking at this system is how well it would translate into a circular diagrammatic map, which seem to be all the rage these days. The orbital nature of the city’s streets and the “spokes” of the main routes would actually make this an appropriate design decision, instead of simply being a design affectation.

Our rating: Pretty darn bad, but not as bad as some. Half a star.

Source: Official SzKT website

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