Photo: Paris Metro Map, Line 12
Nice shallow depth of field, but was he holding the camera up way over his head to get this point of view? Source: Cormac Phelan/Flickr
All posts tagged: France
Photo: Old Paris Metro Map (Detail), c. 1969-1977
This is simply gorgeous. The fact that the RER terminates at Nation dates this map from between 1969 (when the RATP first purchased the line from the SNCF) and 1977 (when the line was extended through Paris and became the RER “A” line we know today). The original post on Flickr does not note where this map is (or was) located. Source: lionelofparis/Flickr
Historical Map: Paris Métro, 1913
Yes, another post about the Paris Métro. I’d stop doing it if I stopped finding really interesting maps! This one is from way back in 1913, and is purportedly the first Métro map to use different colours for each of the lines and the first one to have strip plans for each of them as well. Another thing to note is that this is a mere thirteen years after the Métro opened – and there’s […]
Photo: Ligne 12
Now this is pretty. Source: Noah Stroyman/Flickr
Photo: Search for Delicious
There’s nothing quite like photos of people looking perplexed by transit maps. Source: wahine_87/Flickr – link no longer active
Photo: Tactile
I absolutely love this photo. You can see where countless fingers have traced paths on this map, resting on popular locations and wearing the paper through. This is a map that has been used, and I think it’s fantastic. Source: tjhallett1/Flickr
Historical Map: Paris Metro Map, 1956
Transit maps today are created on computer, and printed with advanced technology. We think nothing of using many different colours, adding a drop shadow behind type, adding a gradient to the background, transparency effects – all things that state-of-the-art design software makes perhaps a little too easy. As a contrast to these glitzy new-fangled maps, I present an antidote: a simply stunning, beautiful and ever-so-French map of the Paris Metro from 1956. It’s printed with […]
Postcards from Paris – Métro Edition
Here’s an interesting comparison of three different postcards of the Paris Métro system – one of which uses the official RATP artwork, and two more which definitely don’t. All three are of similar vintage (from at least 2007, as they all show the southern end of Line 14 at Olympiades station, which opened in that year). So they’re all basically showing the same thing, but take different approaches towards it. The first postcard uses the […]
Photo: Where Are We?
Apparently, you’re at the Cardinal Lemoine Metro station in Paris… just a guess! Source: Ed…../Flickr
Photo: Chemins de Fer du Midi
Another entry in the “Gigantic Map on the Wall of a Railway Station” category, this time at the SNCF station in Bordeaux, France. The modern signage in the foreground and on the ticket office looks sadly out of place in the grandeur of this amazing space. Source: henribergius/Flickr