Hey, everyone! I’m thrilled to be able to share some news with you that I just heard about! My U.S. Highways as Subway Map has been accepted for inclusion in the inaugural edition of the NACIS Atlas of Design. There were 150 entries, and only 27 maps – all by different creators – have been accepted, so you can see why I’m excited about this! The Atlas itself promises to be superb, as evidenced by […]
A detail of the Vignelli diagram. Source: pressthebigredbutton/Flickr
Not every transit map conforms to the Beck-inspired 45-degree angles norm. Many of these maps choose instead to be more geographically accurate, but some – such as this example from Marseille, France – veer towards the surreal, with routes careening crazily all over the place with little sense of aesthetics or clarity. Have we been there? I spent half an hour at Marseille St. Charles waiting for a train to Nice, but haven’t ventured out […]
Just how influential was the original Harry Beck London Underground diagram of 1933? Certainly enough for Sydney, Australia to issue this nearly identical vision of its own suburban rail system in 1939, right down to its own version of the London Underground roundel. I’ve never been able to find out whether this map was authorised or licensed from the London Underground, or whether Sydney just thought, “that looks like a good idea, let’s do that!” […]
This map is at the request of an anonymous follower, who wrote this about this map: Truly terrible transit map that deserves a lashing: the AirTrain JFK. Way too complicated for something that should be fairly simple. Even worse are the TV screens in the stations showing information about where the train at each platform is going, which completely obscure the most important information. Now, I can’t comment on the info screens, as I’ve never […]
Wow. Just wow. These amazing transit maps of early 20th Century Berlin are just a few samples of the maps that can be found at the BerlinerVerkehr website – an absolute treasure trove that transit geeks like me can easily lose hours to. Five stars for this collection, obviously! All of these maps are of interest, but there’s a few things that really stand out: The “Hoch-und Untergrundbahn” logo used on the 1914 and 1918 […]
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 […]
Another map that asks the question: how much abstraction and geographical simplification is too much? From what I understand, this map of the Madrid Metro system has proved somewhat controversial since its introduction in 2007. Unlike most other diagrammatic maps, this one completely eschews even 45-degree angles: reducing the map to its most basic form – and one even further removed from the city’s underlying geography. Have we been there? No, but would love to! […]
It’s just occurred to me that I haven’t posted a single map yet from my native land, Terra Australis… so let’s rectify that now with this map of Brisbane’s Translink commuter rail service, supporting Railbus service that complements that service, and busways – dedicated roadways for commuter bus service (BRT). The first thing to notice about this map is the vast area it covers: over 260km (160 miles) from north to south, and around 50km […]
Even though I’ve never been there, I have a history with the Washington, D.C. Metro system. My redesign of it has proved very popular, winning the Peoples’ choice award in last year’s Greater Greater Washington “Redesign the Metro Map” competition. My general dislike of the venerable official map is fairly well known, but it’s still exciting to see this new version, the first stepping stone on the way to the map that will be needed […]
