All posts tagged: USA

Historical Map: Lines of the Denver City Tramway, 1913

January 29, 2013
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While we applaud the Denver Regional Transportation District’s current FasTracks program, which is rapidly building a comprehensive light rail and commuter rail system in the Mile High City, it’s sobering to look at a map like this and realise that 100 years ago, Denver already had a comprehensive transit system. It’s a story repeated across America – Denver, Los Angeles, Portland, Minneapolis/St. Paul and more. Source: University of Texas Libraries Map Collection

Fully Playable Ms. Pacman Game Based on the Washington, DC Metro Map

January 26, 2013
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Mash-Up Maps, Popular Culture
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This is what you get when you trawl the internet late at night…easily one of the strangest things I’ve come across on the Web lately. You can actually play this map as if it was a game of Ms. Pacman – note the bow in her hair and Cindy Crawford-like beauty spot, just like the original game. Instructions on how to play are here. (Hint: it’s much easier to use the R O Y G […]

Official Map: ART Bus System, Asheville, North Carolina, 2013

January 18, 2013
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Submitted by Matthew Frazier, who says: This is the new system map for ART, or Asheville Redefines Transit (a rather interesting name for a transit agency), from Asheville, North Carolina. I think this is a nice format for bus maps, balancing the stronger need for geographical accuracy with the simplicity of traditional rail maps. (Though I do find it amusing that the “South” route S2 ends further north than it begins.) Transit Maps says: I think […]

Submission – Official Map: Des Moines DART Bus System, 2013

January 17, 2013
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Submitted by “ZMapper”, who included a link to the full map on the official DART website. Have we been there? No. What we like: At first glance, this looks like a nice, clean, modern-looking system map – a breath of fresh air that stands out from the usual geographically-based “road map” bus maps. However, there are some serious usability issus that detract from the light and airy look, which I’ll discuss below. I do like […]

Unofficial Map: Boston MBTA Commuter Rail Time-Scale Map

January 8, 2013
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We’ve previously featured Stonebrown Design’s time-scale Boston Subway Map (Aug. 2012, 3.5 stars) – now they’ve produced a map for Boston’s extensive commuter rail network along the same lines. To my mind, this map is even more successful for a couple of reasons: firstly, the time rings are completely concentric, which makes the map easier to read and looks more aesthetically pleasing. It’s interesting to see how fare zones don’t necessarily correspond to the amount […]

Boston MBTA Green Line Average Weekday Traffic (2010) by Barrett Lane

January 4, 2013
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Wednesday’s post, Subterranean Veins of Europe, and its discussion of design choices distorting data reminded me of this map/graph sent to me by Barrett Lane last year. At first glance, this is a really neat and cleverly devised concept: the ridership numbers for each station on Boston’s Green Line are presented in the form of a stylised map of the lines, with vertical bars representing those numbers. It looks great, there’s some solid data behind […]

Submission: Official Map, Seattle Central Link Light Rail, 2012

December 12, 2012
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Submitted by Joshua Fan, who says: This is an official map of Seattle’s Central Link light rail line, which opened in 2009. It appears  in the official guide of all of Sound Transit’s services, which can be found in this PDF on the Sound Transit website. Frankly, I am quite disappointed in this map: it tries to both diagrammatic and geographical, but fails on both counts (which is a common mistake that you have pointed […]