This is one of those maps where I’m not entirely sure if it’s the brainchild of a genius or the work of a madman. It’s an insanely detailed map-slash-diagram of tram routes in Sydney from 1921 by an unknown author that also attempts to indicate almost every major cross-street along the way. Intersections that are also designated as tram stops get a marker and increasingly larger labels to indicate their relative importance. Five different line […]
Here’s a lovely old map of Kyoto, issued by the Miyako Hotel in 1920 for the benefit of its guests. The hotel is still there almost 100 years later, now owned by the Westin Group. The interurban streetcar to Otsu that once ran down the middle of the street in front of the hotel was abandoned in 1997, replaced by the underground Tōzai Line of the Kyoto Municipal Subway. The electric streetcars are displayed prominently on […]
A lovely little pocket card map of Melbourne’s extensive tram network, issued free by the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board. Route numbers are shown in black type in red discs, which can make them a little hard to read on occasions. Points of interest (listed on other pages of the pocket book) are altogether easier to make out – number 25 is, of course, the world-famous Melbourne Cricket Ground. Interestingly, quite a few of the […]
On the 9th of December, 2017, the Green Line of Dublin’s Luas light rail system was extended north from St. Stephen’s Green to Broombridge, providing a connection with the Red Line in the city centre. Of course, such an addition means a new map, which is always fun. Zone-based fare systems can be tricky to incorporate into transit maps, and Dublin’s taken an unusual approach, breaking the city up into large zone “blocks” that extend out […]
Here’s an absolute gem, a surprisingly modern-looking diagram of trolleybus and tram routes in post-war London. Drawn by cartographer Fred J.H. Elston, the map employs 30-degree angles and radically straightened roads to great effect. All roads are clearly labelled, as are the different neighbourhoods of London, so orientation isn’t a problem. I also really like the way all the bridges are shown crossing the Thames: another effective orientation method. Underground and main line stations are […]
Here’s another fantastic old transit diagram taken from the pages of the 1974 Graphis Diagrams annual (see also this concept Helsinki Metro map). This minimalist diagram of Rotterdam’s transit was designed by the firm Tel Design, who were also responsible for the corporate identity of Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS or Dutch Railways) in the 1960s. The creative director, Gert Dumbar, formed his own design studio in 1977 and continued to do work for NS through the […]
Submitted by Stevan, who says: I’d love to get an opinion from you about my concept for Nuremberg’s metro region transit map. I’m not huge fan of official Nuremberg-Fuerth map [which hasn’t changed substantially since I reviewed it back in May 2012 – Cam] so I decided to give a try and redesign the map. In past I’ve tried several times to create transit maps for few cities but this one is the first one I could […]
Sent my way by Kyril Negoda are these two rather delightful little diagrams of trolleybus and tram services in Kaliningrad in 1990. This was just before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, so Kaliningrad Oblast was still physically connected to the rest of the USSR, rather than being an exclave like it is today. Stylistically, the diagrams are very similar and have a pleasant, slightly childlike feeling to them. This is aided by […]
Submitted by Mikko. This is a really lovely little diagram, which treads the fine line between simplifying the network and depicting Helsinki’s complex geography very deftly. Near-future extensions (up to 2023) are depicted with hollow route lines and estimated opening dates for stations and new track. One thing it does lack is a legend – while most of the map is pretty self-explanatory, an indication that Line 5 and the short 6T extension only run […]
Sent my way by quite a few people, here’s yet another gorgeous transportation map from Art Lebedev Studios. It bears a lot of their usual trademarks –interesting and unusual station ticks, gradients between line colours at interchange stations, superb point-of-interest icons – but it also brings a playfulness that I haven’t really seen before in their work. The route lines have a very pleasant organic flow to them, and there are some very nice “flavour” icons […]
