All posts tagged: Europe

Historical Map: Leningrad (St. Petersburg) Metro, Russia, 1973

March 4, 2015
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A curvaceous, minimalist diagram. Notably mainly for the strangely muted colour scheme (yellow, brown and purple?) and the interesting interchange station symbols, which make things very clear by showing two arrows pointing in opposite directions. Visually, I like the way that the diagram makes use of overprinting where the route lines overlap. Update: I’ve since found out that this map is a small inset on a much larger geographical map of bus services in Leningrad, […]

Historical Map: ACTUAL H.C. Beck Greater London Tube/Rail Map, 1938

February 26, 2015
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Thanks to Robert McConnell, who let me know that the map I featured in my last post is actually a modern digital map made by none other than Maxwell Roberts. Roberts states that he based his version of the map off one that Beck produced, unsolicited, in 1938 and that a copy of this version is in Ken Garland’s excellent book, “Mr. Beck’s Underground Map”. I own a copy of this book, so was a […]

Historical Map: Beck-style Greater London Tube/Rail Map (c. 1940s?)

February 25, 2015
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Here’s something via Chris Applegate on Flickr, where Chris says: Finally put up and framed the gorgeous vintage Tube map I won in a competition yonks ago. It is gorgeous, but it’s not just a Tube map, nor is it anything I’ve ever actually seen before.  It appears to be a Greater London Tube Map/main line railway diagram produced in a Beck-like style – a precursor to this 1988 “London Connections” map (May 2013, 3 stars) […]

Reader Question: Which of Beck’s London Underground Maps Do You Prefer?

February 17, 2015
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Question: Which of Beck’s maps of the London Underground do you most prefer, and what properties does it have that elevate it above the others in your opinion as a designer? Answer: My absolute favourite Beck-drawn Tube Map is actually his unpublished 1961 Victoria Line proposal, which I wrote about in this post back in 2012. Go take a look at it – it’s simply gorgeous, with an arrow-straight lavender Victoria Line cutting directly across […]

Historical Map: Old Paris Metro Map at Marcadet Poissonniers Station (pre-1967?)

December 3, 2014
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Great photo of the remnants of an old Metro map. The original poster of this photo on Flickr notes that it’s normally hidden behind advertisements these days. The best I can do with dating is pre-1967, as Line 7 has yet to be split into 7 and 7bis north of Louis Blanc station, instead being branches of the same line. Source: andrew gallix/Flickr

Historical Map: Graphical Time Table for Steamer Routes in the Sognefjord, Norway, 1907

November 30, 2014
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A beautiful early example of a stylised transportation map, showing routes and departure times for steamer ferries along the Sognefjord in Norway (the third longest fjord in the world, apparently), way back in 1907. While the “crinkly bits” of the fjord itself and the locations of the ports of call are faithful to geography, the routes themselves are overlaid with little regard to reality. Instead, they travel smooth, easy to follow paths that make the […]

Submission – Berlin Christmas Markets S- and U-Bahn Map

November 28, 2014
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Now that Thanksgiving is done and dusted, let’s move on to Christmas! Submitted by Metrolley, here’s a lovely little map produced by anamea.de that shows the location of the myriad Christmas markets around Berlin in relation to the U- and S-Bahn networks. A nice amalgam of the official map’s style and form with just enough Christmas cheer added – the colour-coded market names (tied to the line they’re on) are a lovely little touch. Nicely […]