All posts tagged: Spain

Unofficial Map: “Barcelona Tourist Guide” Metro Map

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Unofficial Maps

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

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Official Maps

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 Source: albertmiralles/Flickr – link no longer active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

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Advertising

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

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Historical Maps

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

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Official Maps

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! […]

Official Map: Barcelona Metro, 2011

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Official Maps

An attractive and easy to follow map with a few unusual features. At first glance, it appears to be a diagrammatic map in the form of the London Underground Diagram, but it’s actually overlaid on a simplified, but accurate street grid, allowing easy reference to the features of the city. Especially prominent is the Avenue Diagonal – a major feature of the city emphasized by excellent design. It also cleverly rotates the map to fit […]