All posts tagged: Spain

Official Map: Everything Old is New Again for the Madrid Metro

June 3, 2013
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Official Maps
Tags:

Over the weekend, Madrid rolled out a new map for its comprehensive Metro and light rail system. After six long and controversial years, the previous map (March 2012, 2.5 stars) – with everything reduced to severe 90-degree angles and very little spatial relationship to the real world – has been consigned to the dustbin. In its place, a new map that looks strangely familiar. The design of the map has returned in-house and Metro’s designers […]

Unofficial Map: “Barcelona Tourist Guide” Metro Map

February 12, 2013
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Unofficial Maps
Tags:

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 […]

Photo: Barcelona Wayfinding

December 20, 2012
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Official Maps
Tags:

Not only is this an awesome picture, but it really shows off how the Barcelona Metro map is part of a greater, unified, wayfinding scheme. Here, on one panel, we’ve got a nice big map, information about the Metro, a complete cross-referenced list of stations, and a local area map showing the transportation options around the current station. Wonderful stuff. Source: albertmiralles/Flickr – link no longer active

Advertisement: Metrovalencia Map for Air Travelers

August 12, 2012
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Advertising
Tags:

One of a series of nifty advertisements for the Metro system in Valencia, Spain. This one highlights the system’s connections to the airport (via Lines 3 and 5); I’ve also seen other ones that form the shape of a shopping bag (to showcase the connections to the shopping districts of the city), and a bicycle (to indicate that bicycles can be taken on the system). These ads all tie into a previous iteration of the […]

Historical Map: Metro de Madrid, 1981

May 9, 2012
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Historical Maps
Tags:

Having had a look at Madrid’s current map (2.5 stars), I thought we’d delve into the past and see what came before it. The first thing to notice is how much smaller the system was in 1981: only 10 Metro lines instead of 12 — and many of those are much shorter than now, and no light rail lines. Have we been there? No. What we like: A paragon of clean, functional transit map design. […]

Official Map: Metro de Madrid, Spain, 2012

March 27, 2012
Leave a comment
Filed Under:
Official Maps
Tags:

Another map that asks the question: how much abstraction and geographical simplification is too much? From what I understand, this map of the Madrid Metro system has proved somewhat controversial since its introduction in 2007. Unlike most other diagrammatic maps, this one completely eschews even 45-degree angles: reducing the map to its most basic form – and one even further removed from the city’s underlying geography. Have we been there? No, but would love to! […]