All posts tagged: metro

Official Map: Prague Metro 2013 Flood Map

June 3, 2013
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As you may already know, Prague is currently bracing itself for its heaviest flooding in recent memory. In preparation, the city has shut down large portions of its subterranean Metro system and has added temporary tram and bus services to compensate. This map, obviously produced in a hurry, outlines those service changes with a minimum of fuss. It also shows which tram lines have been cancelled until further notice. With events like this, informing the […]

Historical Maps: Evolution of the Stockholm Metro Map, c.1958-1971

June 2, 2013
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Here’s a fantastic photo showing three versions of the map for the Stockholms tunnelbana, probably taken at the Stockholm Transit Museum. By comparing the three maps and the looking at the stations shown on each of them, I’ve roughly dated each as follows. The top map is from between November 19, 1958 (when the Farsta station opened), and November 14, 1959, when Rågsved station (shown on the middle map, but not on the top one) opened. The […]

Historical Map: Tyne and Wear Metro, England, c. 2000

May 28, 2013
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Showing the then-proposed extension to Sunderland, which opened in 2002. Interestingly, the 60-degree angled section running through Newcastle is flipped the other way compared to the current map (Nov. 2011, 3.5 stars). I’d say the change was mainly made to accommodate the Calvert typeface used on the modern day map: it’s far more attractive than the Futura Condensed on display here, but a lot wider. Without the flip, the labels for South Gosforth and Four […]

Update: Washington, DC Metro Map Final Draft Version

May 23, 2013
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Yes, I post a lot about the DC Metro Map, but it’s not often we get to see the process of developing a transit map as publicly as this, or in such immense detail. I find it fascinating to see the decisions that are made, the different iterations the map goes through, and what is kept and what gets discarded. Pretty much the only thing up for discussion on this final draft is the shape […]

Historical Map: Old M1 Signage, Bucharest Metro, Romania, c. 1989

April 24, 2013
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The Gara de Nord to Dristor 2 section of the M1 line opened in 1989, and this signage certainly looks like it’s from that era. The design is pretty rough and ready, looking almost like the sign makers made it up as they went along, but it does have a certain brutalist charm about it.  Of particular interest are the two patches at each end of the map that keep this old map somewhat up […]

Historical Map: Washington, DC Metro Map, 1977

April 15, 2013
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As you may know, I’ve had a lot to say about recent iterations of the Washington, DC Metro Map (Rush+ map review, draft Silver Line map review), but how about a look at where it all began? This is a Metro map from March, 1977 – about a year after the system first started carrying passengers. At first glance, it looks very similar to today’s modern map… but then you realise that the only section […]

Official Map: Interactive Metro Map, Pyongyang, North Korea

March 21, 2013
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An interactive metro map from North Korea’s secretive capital. The green buttons across the bottom of the map represent all the stations: press one and the path from your current station to your destination lights up. With just a handful of stations on two lines (and only one interchange), I hardly think many people are going to be overwhelmed by the system’s complexity. Wikipedia’s article on the Pyongyang Metro is actually a very interesting read: the […]

Photo: Brussels Metro Line Map and Next Train Countdown

February 28, 2013
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A companion piece to the official map (Dec. 2012, 3 stars) on the platform at Rogier station. The look of this map marries with the official map quite well, showing an admirable consistency in application. Rogier station itself is clearly shown with a nice big arrow and stations before it on the lines are clearly indicated against greyed-out route lines. There’s also a nicely legible countdown for the next two trains, indicating their route number […]

The Almost Official Map: Ilya Birman’s Moscow Metro Map

February 20, 2013
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I’ve seen a lot of tweets recently linking to the design process page for Art Lebedev’s new official Moscow Metro map (Transit Maps wrote about this page way back on February 4th). However, I haven’t seen as much attention being paid to the second-place winning map, designed by Ilya Birman. He also has a design process page for his map, and it’s just as fascinating as the Lebedev one. He discusses the difficulty of having […]

Unofficial Map: “Barcelona Tourist Guide” Metro Map

February 12, 2013
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As you should know, official transit maps are copyrighted materials. Commercial reproduction of the map by third parties normally requires permission and payment of a licence fee – often a hefty one. A lot of people don’t want to pay that fee, so they design their own version of the map instead. This can result in maps that are eerily similar to the official one, nicely designed but different maps, or horrendous monstrosities. Guess which […]