From an anonymous reader: Someone recently showed me an article in the magazine Railway Age that reviewed the software application LineMap Draw. Have you heard of it? Any thoughts about it? It says it would save time creating maps. It’s only available for PCs, so as a Mac-user, I’m not able try out the free demo. I am also skeptical about using it over a tried-and-true vector program like Illustrator. More info can be found […]
Q Have you ever seen a ski resort map in the style of a transit map? I was thinking about attempting it, not sure if it is even feasible. A I thought it was pretty much compulsory for every ski resort in the world to have a James Niehues panoramic painting for their resort map, so it’s no surprise that I haven’t actually come across a transit map-styled one yet. The closest I’ve seen are these […]
QHi, I want to make a map of my home city’s bus system, but as I am a ‘starter’ I have some problems with developing it. In our city centre, there is one bus stop with 24 routes and another with 22 (excluding the night routes). Between these two stops, the lines run along two streets with 10 and 11 routes , respectively. What would you advise me to do to not have a big […]
Question: Hi Cameron, I’m wrapping up a transit map project that I’ll likely print professionally. I was all set to send the printer a PDF until I happened to catch one of your tweets that mentioned using a high-resolution JPEG instead. I’m wondering if you could share your recommended practices for exporting from Illustrator to print-ready JPEG in terms of resolution, color profiles, and the like. The last thing any of us wants is to […]
Question: Hi there! Thanks so much for your comments on my Berlin 1952 redesign. I’m working on a recreation of a Berlin map from 1992 (I can’t include links, but there’s a few from 1992, 1991, and 1988 floating around Google I believe), and I’m wondering what your advice on font is. I can’t really pick it out by eye and WhatTheFont hasn’t been too helpful. What would you say would be the closest one? FF […]
Somewhat surprisingly, no. I thought perhaps that Maxwell Roberts had done one at some stage, but he’s actually done the reverse: the Tube Map in the style of the Vignelli New York subway map. As you can see, he’s carried across the New York style of showing all the service patterns on the map. In New York, this is used to distinguish between local and express services, while in London, it reveals the secret inner […]
A question from Richard Archambault via Twitter: how many metros/subways have you personally visited? Favourite? Answer: Oooo, good question! Using the full list of rail rapid transit systems in Mark Ovenden’s Transit Maps of the World gives this list (in approximate order of first use): Sydney (suburban rail, monorail, light rail) London (Underground) Paris (Métro) Rome (Metro) Melbourne (tram) Ghent (tram) Milan (commuter/regional rail to Como, not tram or Metro) Naples (Circumvesuviano line only, not Metro) […]
Question: How do you decide on the overall dimensions and aspect ratio when creating a new map? Answer: For my personal map projects, the aspect ratio is the first thing I decide upon. I generally try to stick with standard formats that are compatible with framing – these being 1:1 (square), and 3:2 or 4:3 rectangles. Generally, I use 3:2 the most – 36″ x 24″ and 24″ x 16″ are great finished sizes and […]
Question: What are the most common “line colors” for transit lines? I’ve heard of blue lines, red lines, yellow/green/silver/purple/orange/pink lines, but is there anything I’m missing? Once a transit system gets over that amount of colors, do they usually switch to Line 1/A Train/etc.? Answer: To answer your question, I’m going to point you towards Nick Rougeux’s excellent “Global Subway Spectrum” web page, which breaks down the route colours used by rapid transit systems around the world […]
Reader Question: I dabble a bit in designing fictional transit maps,but I’ve always wondered about these two questions (if I may). 1) What is a standard and/or good canvas size when drawing a map? 2) When drawing a map where you want to indicate multimodality, but give priority to one mode (say, a metro map showing light rail or commuter connections), how is that best achieved? Is it preferable to use icons at stations or […]
