All posts tagged: Boston

Photo — Historical Map: Boston Sights

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Historical Maps, Photography

Boston seems to rival only Washington, DC for old system maps being left in place at stations and on trains. This photo was taken in August of this year, but the map dates from between 2004 to 2008 (the extension of the Silver Line to City Point is the giveaway). I’d probably lean towards the earlier end of that range, due to the “Silver Line Waterfront” designation. One thing to note is how much cleaner […]

Unofficial Map: Boston Subway Time-Scale Map

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Unofficial Maps, Visualizations

Peter Dunn from Stonebrown Design sent this map to me this morning for my thoughts, and it’s definitely worth looking at. You may recall that Peter is also responsible for this neat “subway map” of the Appalachian Trail, previously featured on Transit Maps. Visually, this map reminds me of this unofficial map of Amsterdam’s Metro – mainly because of the unusual radial design and the treatment of bodies of water. However, this map arguably puts […]

Question: Should You Show Lines Under Construction?

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Questions

Here’s a question from an anonymous follower, who asks: “Is it good or bad to depict lines under construction on subway maps?” In my opinion, if the line is actually under construction, then it’s definitely a good thing to show it. It gets users acquainted with the new line before it opens and generates interest. How you show it is up to you – dashed lines are the usual way, although advances in printing mean […]

Historical Map: Proposed Extensions of Rapid Transit into Suburban Boston, 1945

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Historical Maps

Here’s another amazing historical planning map, this time from Boston in 1945. Visually, it looks quite similar to this map, but shows an amazing array of planned extensions to the existing system. Some of them were built soon after this map was drawn up:the Revere (Blue Line) extension to Wonderland was essentially complete by 1952, although this map shows the line heading even further north. Others took much, much longer: the (Red Line) to Quincy […]

Future Map: Amtrak’s Vision for Super High Speed Rail in the Northeast Corridor

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Future Maps

Leaving aside the politics and cost for a minute, this is actually a pretty darn nice map. Attractive and informational. Drawing the “Super Express” and “Express” routes as dead straight lines definitely emphasises the idea of speed and direct connections between points. Long Island looks a little weird, though… Source: carfreemaine/Tumblr – link no longer active

Mario vs. Mario

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Mash-Up Maps, Popular Culture

So every man and his dog is sending me links to the new Toronto TTC/Mario World mash-up map by Dave Delisle (prints for sale here). It’s definitely well executed, but I couldn’t help but think I’d seen something similar before… A couple of minutes of Googling later: a similarly-themed (although aesthetically a little different) map of the Boston MBTA done last year by Adam Summerville (prints here). I’d just like to make it clear that […]

Historical Map: Boston Commuter Rail Map, Mid-1980s

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Historical Maps

Great old map of Boston’s extensive commuter rail network. I really like the way the subway lines are included to give scale to the whole network, and I especially like the square that the main interchange stations on the subway lines make — an understated design choice that gives a nice central focal point to the map. I suspect that the odd colours of the Orange and Red Lines are due to aging ink discolouration […]

Unofficial Historical Map: An Animated History of the MBTA

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Historical Maps, Visualizations

This is something you just have to look at: an amazing animated timeline of the Boston MBTA Subway over at Andrew Lynch’s Vanshnookenraggen blog (check out his future MBTA maps while you’re there). To my mind, this work is far superior to the animated history of the New York Subway map that was floating around the interwebs a little while back: it’s clearly dated on the map, it’s fully annotated, and even has a slide […]