Here’s an interesting pair of photos from 2009 that show two in-car strip maps that co-existed on Metro trains in Brussels. Together, they show the changes in the system that were occurring with the opening of track between the Delacroix and Gare de l’Ouest stations. Apart from a new look to the map, the system itself seems to have been overhauled completely, with the previous lines “1A” and “1B” becoming “5” and “6”, amongst lots […]
Here’s a dreamy shallow depth of field photo from Tokyo’s Ginza Line. Yum. Source: Eric Flexyourhead/Flickr
Submitted by Sam Gold, who says: “Taken last week on Line 2 of the Seoul Metro. I found these system maps to be close to unusable!” Transit Maps says: Hard to disagree with Sam here. You’d need some excellent vision or really good glasses to be able to make out all the detail on this map, which crams all of Seoul’s extensive system into an area often used to show just one line or far […]
Altogether rather lovely. Source: Rumbling Jessie/Flickr
I love this photo of a giant backlit system map in Barcelona. Source: zsrepasy/Flickr
Definitely more a piece of art using the Moscow Metro as inspiration than an actual usable map, but still noteworthy. Taking the spoke and hub nature of the Metro completely literally, the work shows the stations along each line in the form of concentric rings: simple, but graphically effective. I have no doubt that a seasoned Muscovite Metro commuter would be able to locate the stations they use quite easily. Source: aircoooled karma/Flickr
Submitted by David Daglish, who says: Rio De Janeiro’s metro system has only two lines, both cover the same stations through the business district to the tourist areas of the Zona Sul. The transit map also shows “metro bus” connections that don’t quite make geographic sense. Transit Maps says: A “straightened” linear version of the full Metro map (reviewed here, 2 stars), which enhances the legibility considerably. Strangely, this version also has information about weekend […]
Here’s an interesting in-car strip map from Rome. Firstly, the eye-searing orange background breaks away from the norm of plain white backgrounds: no one could ever say that they couldn’t find the map! Secondly, and perhaps more unusually, the map actually shows whether stations have side platforms or island platforms — very handy for knowing which side of the train to get off! Source: Ka Lung1/Flickr
Here’s a beautiful map of the Moscow Metro from 1980 that’s unlike anything else I’ve ever seen. I don’t think it’s an official map, as it looks quite different to other Moscow maps of the same vintage. The archive I found the map in also lists it as “Source Unknown”. It appears to have been printed on the flyleaf of a pocket-sized book, bound to the book’s front cover on the left half, with the […]
Here’s a beautiful old strip map of the Paris Métro’s Ligne 12, which runs from Mairie d’Issy to Porte de la Chapelle. This map is located in one of the few remaining old Sprague-Thomson cars, once the workhorse of the Métro. The fact that Rennes station is crossed out dates the map from between World War II, when it was closed, and September 1968, when it was (finally) reopened. Judging by the general aesthetics and […]
