All posts tagged: 1988

Historical Unofficial Map: New York Subway Diagram by Synthez Design Company, 1988

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Historical Maps, Unofficial Maps

Has New York ever been so wide? This intriguing diagram from the New York Transit Museum’s collection makes the most of its landscape dimensions (possibly two pages in a guide book?) by going sideways as much as possible. Manhattan is impossibly broad, and the Bronx is shown as almost entirely to the east of it. Similar distortions happen just about everywhere, and yet – perhaps a little surprisingly – I still find the overall effect […]

Historical Map: Nuclear Weapons Complex Transportation Routes, 1988

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Here’s an unusual use of transit map design principles – a map produced by the Radioactive Waste Campaign in 1988 of the routes used to transport nuclear materials and waste around the United States. This diagrammatic approach actually works very well here – as the legend to the map says: The origin and destination of these routes are well known. However, because of government secrecy, the exact path of these routes is conjectured. Without the […]

Historical Map: East Berlin U- and S-Bahn Map, 1988

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Another amazing historical map from that most fascinating of transit map cities, Berlin. This one shows the U-Bahn and S-Bahn networks of East Berlin in July 1988, just over a year before the fall of the Berlin Wall. West Berlin is entirely omitted, with the S-Bahn ending at Friedrichstrasse with no indication of what lies further west of that point: not even a sektorengrenze. The numbers at each station indicate the travel time from the […]

Historical Map: Tactile/Braille Map of the Washington DC Metro, 1988

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A tactile map designed by J.W. Wiedel for the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education. Tactile surfaces on the map reveal information about the Metrorail system for vision-impaired users, including whether stations have side or centre platforms (more information than can be found on the official map) and transfer stations. It’s hard to make out, but braille text is also included for major stations and areas. Each route line also appears to have a […]

High-Resolution Scan of 1988 Amsterdam Transit Map!

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Have I ever mentioned how much I love my readers? I posted about this map last Monday, praising its visual clarity, but also lamenting the fact that I didn’t have a higher resolution version of it to really savour the details. Almost immediately, I got a submission from Alain Lemaire, who generously sent me full high-resolution scans of the whole map from his personal collection. He provided me with four separate scans, one for each […]

Submission – Historical Map: Public Transit in Amsterdam, 1988 by Hans van der Kooi

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Submitted by the designer of the map, Hans van der Kooi, who says: As a result of the popularity of the hand-out map for trams (June 2013, 4.5 stars) in Amsterdam, we designed a larger scale map, used on the tram and bus stops in Amsterdam, including the line of the buses as well. Designed and used in 1988. Transit Maps says: It’s an absolute pleasure to have this map submitted by the original designer! […]

Historical Map: London Connections, 1988

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The reverse side of the British Rail Network SouthEast map, showing the detailed view of the area surrounding London. While this map is designed in a very similar style (at the same time, by the same people) to the regional map, I feel it’s slightly less successful for a few reasons. The inclusion of the London Underground introduces many more colors to the map, which instantly makes it feel much busier. After using all these […]

Historical Map: British Rail Network SouthEast, 1988

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Network SouthEast was an operating division of British Rail that was formed in 1982 (although it was known as London & South Eastern until 1986). It was responsible for inter-city and commuter rail for the densely-populated south east of England, including London. Of course, beginning in 1994, Network SouthEast was privatised along with the rest of British Rail, leading to the convoluted network of private rail companies we see today. But what we have here […]