Submitted by themallefitz, who says: This is a transit map of the Hamburger Hochbahn (subway/elevated railway) from 1915. it was painted on the ceiling of the wagons. Transit Maps says: This. Is. So. Beautiful.
Well, I guess this is one solution to the problem of having to look awkwardly over the shoulder of people sitting in front of the map on the train… Source: varlamov/Flickr
Oktoberfest started yesterday in Munich, so I thought it would be appropriate to share this fun little map from 2008 of Munich’s beer gardens laid out in the familiar style of that city’s S- and U-Bahn map. However, beware! Although this map looks quite similar to the official one, the “lines” shown here don’t seem to correlate to the actual routes in real life — I would not recommend using this map on your Munich […]
Lovely set of wayfinding strip maps from Berlin. The current station, Alexanderplatz, is subtly highlighted with a grey box behind its name. I really like the way that station names are all to the right of each line, with connections shown to the left – an excellent and consistent division of information to make wayfinding easier. Source: manganite/Flickr
Not a transit diagram for public use, but a track layout of the system for operational planning. The original post on Flickr dates it between 1929-1934, based on visible names. Source: Forest Pines/Flickr
Here’s an interesting map from Nürnberg (Nuremberg) in Germany that uses 30-degree angles instead of the usual 45. There doesn’t seem to be major thematic reason as to why things have been done this way: I suspect that it’s purely to make the routes fit into the allotted space. Have we been there? Yes, in 2003. What we like: Competently done, with a visually pleasing layout and good information hierarchy – the U-Bahn and tram […]
Wow. Just wow. These amazing transit maps of early 20th Century Berlin are just a few samples of the maps that can be found at the BerlinerVerkehr website – an absolute treasure trove that transit geeks like me can easily lose hours to. Five stars for this collection, obviously! All of these maps are of interest, but there’s a few things that really stand out: The “Hoch-und Untergrundbahn” logo used on the 1914 and 1918 […]
Further to my previous posts, here’s a couple more maps from East and West Berlin, this time from 1984. Both are much better-designed than the examples shown earlier, and West Berlin has taken on the “U-number” line names that we know so well today. No further comments as the basic principles still hold true for each map – presented for comparison and completeness only.
As a direct contrast to my previous post, here’s the East Berlin perspective of transit in that divided city. Notice anything? West Berlin has almost been entirely excised from the map: a small, empty, featureless area totally encircled by extensive East German rail lines as well as the Berlin Wall: here referred to as the “state border”. A powerful statement of East German superiority if there ever was one. Have we been there? Yes. What […]
Berlin’s troubled post-World War II history led to a fascinating dual history for transit in that city, divided into East and West sectors. This West Berlin U-Bahn map from 1977 – at the height of the Cold War – shows that division in a stark, but also curiously understated fashion. The infamous Berlin Wall that completely divided the city is prosaically referred to as a Sektorengrenze, or “sector boundary”. All U-Bahn lines are still shown, […]
