All posts tagged: USA

Fantasy Map: North American Metro Map by Mark Knoke

February 6, 2014
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Obviously inspired by – and clearly credited as such – the brilliant xkcd “Subways of North America” map, here’s a quite staggeringly detailed map of pretty much every rail-based rapid transit system in North America, including future expansions and upcoming new systems like Honolulu’s HART elevated light rail. Like the xkcd map, all the systems link up at their termini to form one giant Metro map that spans the entire continent. True, the map isn’t […]

Submission – Official Historical Map: MBTA Map in Chinese, c. 1985

January 30, 2014
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Submitted by Randy Wong, who says: The MBTA map in Chinese characters. These used to be posted at the Orange Line Chinatown T-stop, and also at a few of the other lines that intersected/were near Chinese speakers. There are lots of Chinese who live near Malden, Oak Grove, Chinatown, Forest Hills, Quincy, and Quincy Center T-stops, though I don’t recall which stops actually had Chinese T maps. Transit Maps says: Nice localisation of the classic […]

Historical Map: Tactile/Braille Map of the Washington DC Metro, 1988

January 24, 2014
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A tactile map designed by J.W. Wiedel for the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education. Tactile surfaces on the map reveal information about the Metrorail system for vision-impaired users, including whether stations have side or centre platforms (more information than can be found on the official map) and transfer stations. It’s hard to make out, but braille text is also included for major stations and areas. Each route line also appears to have a […]

Submission – Unofficial Map: Philadelphia SEPTA Rapid Transit System

January 23, 2014
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Submitted by Henry, who says: Hi, my name is Henry, and I’m a senior in high school.  I made this map of Philadelphia’s rapid transit services (mostly SEPTA but including PATCO). This is the first transit map I’ve made, for my home city, Philadelphia, a map which I know you have much distaste for. I know it has several problems (alignment mostly I think) but I think it’s a huge improvement over what’s there now. […]

Historical Map: The Plan of Chicago – Proposed Arrangement of Railroad Stations, 1909

January 10, 2014
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A plate from the hugely influential 1909 Plan of Chicago (also known as “the Burnham Plan” after its primary author, the renowned architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham) showing proposed amendments and additions to the railroads of the city. The thin red lines show main line railroads, which were going to be rerouted to two mega-stations to the south and west of the downtown area. To facilitate movement between these stations, an ambitious plan of subterranean […]

Fantasy Future Map: Los Angeles County Light Rail System from the Movie “Her”

January 9, 2014
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I love it when I’m able to fulfill requests from readers. Here’s a note I got from an anonymous follower the other day: The new movie “Her” is set in a futuristic LA with a very un-LA-like amount of public transport use and at one point includes a shot off to the side of the frame of a map showing a much, much bigger LA Metro rail network. Would love to see that on this […]

Fantasy Map: New York Subway Map in the Style of Washington DC’s Metro Map by Chris Whong

December 30, 2013
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Yes, it only shows Manhattan and The Bronx with small parts of Brooklyn and Queens, but this is still a pretty awesome mash-up. Aesthetically, it’s a dead ringer for the Washington, DC Metro map – big, fat route lines, the “double ring” interchange stations, green areas for parkland, etc. Nice work from Chris to mimic this style so closely! While the map looks great, it really also shows how unsuited the bold, simplistic approach taken […]

Fantasy Map: In-Car Strip Map for Fictional Indianapolis “CITI” Red Line

December 28, 2013
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A lesson in how not to add station labels to a strip map: type at five different angles makes things incredibly hard to read. Also not to be recommended for legibility is the all-caps treatment of station names. This would work much better if the route line was pushed to the top of the strip, with all stations spaced equally and type set at one consistent angle across the entire diagram. Source: A2DAC1985/Flickr

Aerial View of Manhattan with Subway/Rail Lines by Arnorian

December 26, 2013
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arnorian: A skyview of Manhattan with overlaid subway and rail lines. 7 Subway Extension, the first phase of the Second Avenue Subway, and East Side Access included. Another fantastic aerial photo/subway routes mash-up from Arnorian – a companion piece to this very popular piece that shows more of New York and New Jersey. What I really like about this is that you can make out individual buildings and streets quite easily – the Empire State […]

Historical Map: AC Transit Route Map, 1967

December 26, 2013
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Sweet illustrated map of bus routes in the East Bay, including a multitude of transbay services: I count 16 crossing the Bay Bridge to San Francisco! As with all maps of this ilk, the fun part is finding all the little details in the illustrations that are liberally scattered throughout (My favourite is probably the sailor who is busily chatting up the cute nurse at the top centre of the map). The subtle painted texture […]