A bit blocky and utilitarian, but has some interesting elements worthy of note. Each station icon indicates the positioning of the platforms: either two separate platforms along the side, or one island platform between the tracks – very useful information to have! Because of the circular nature of the M1 (Yellow) Line, both Dristor 1 and Dristor 2 appear twice on the map, because the M1 line has been “flattened out” to appear in a […]
Absolutely superb U-Bahn line maps in Munich, Germany. Clean, sleek, minimal with information superbly delineated and defined. Source: Woodpeckar/Flickr
Cute and tiny. Only possible because of the brevity of most of the station names – two to four characters only. Source: Ti.mo/Flickr
Submitted by Sean Hunt, who says: A (sadly, slightly blurry) image of the Montreal Metro’s maps on the platform, displaying clearly which direction the line is going as well as the time to each station along the way. Transit Maps says: A nice, clear way to integrate travel information for a single line into a system-wide map. Reducing the width of the lines for the other routes instantly raises the designated route (here, the Blue […]
Following on from the Lisbon commuter rail strip map feautured recently, here’s another excellent example, this time from Prague. Design-wise, it fits in well with the standard Metro/tram map, but is remarkable for its incredibly effective use of space. The three route lines fit beautifully into the space, and the interchanges between the lines in the centre of the map are simply gorgeous. The inclusion of icons for popular landmarks/attractions is welcome and useful (as […]
What a fantastic photo! More than anything, it illustrates how people actually use maps in real life. Now that a destination has been reached via the Tube, a street map is required for the next stage of the journey. There’s some serious study of that map going on here! Also, look at the Tube map on the wall behind our geographically-challenged subject. Charing Cross Road goes right past Leicester Square tube station, where I’m almost […]
A lovely above-door strip map from Portugal’s capital. By sacrificing geographical reality (only the Tagus River gives any sense of orientation), the three lines are able to be laid out for maximum clarity and legibility. The comprehensive legend has symbols for connections to the Metro, the private Fertagus commuter rail line to Setúbal, ferries, and buses. It even has a “camera” icon for stations with points of interest nearby, and a little “umbrella and beach […]
A very interesting early topological transit diagram from Istanbul. It’s tricky to date precisely: the best I can do is the range 1923–1939, based on the lines shown and the fact that the STM was dissolved at the latter date when transit in Istanbul was nationalised. It’s probably roughly contemporaneous with other early topological maps like George Dow’s work for the LNER in 1929, although I actually see this map being born out of necessity, rather […]
A rather odd map of Lithuania on the wall at the Klaipeda inter-city bus terminal. Ostensibly, I guess it depicts the coach network, or even just the nation’s main highways, but it does seem odd to have a city – Alytus – marked on the map when there’s no apparent way to get there. There’s also a couple of interesting choices made for international destinations: Tallinn and Riga (the other Baltic state capitals) are fair […]
“Dodecalinear” is fancy designer-speak for a 30-degree grid: it refers to the fact that the route lines can be laid out in twelve directions instead of the eight allowed by a standard 45-degree or octolinear map. To put it in simpler terms: imagine six lines that pass through a central point – from that point, you can now travel in any of twelve directions. Technically, you can use any combination of opposing angles and still […]
