All posts tagged: Washington DC

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 […]

Weird: The Maryland Transit Administration’s Version of the DC Metro Map

January 22, 2014
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Not only is the map out of date (no Rush+, no indication of the Silver Line at all), but the MTA has simply encased the official DC map in their own branding shell and then covered it in hideous and distracting callout boxes denoting their own commuter bus services. Yes, it performs a service, but – dear God! – is it ever ugly. There should be a law against this kind of thing. Source: Maryland […]

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 […]

Unofficial Map: Washington DC Metro Map by Peter Dovak

December 13, 2013
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An interesting approach to an alternative DC Metro map by Peter Dovak, who previously submitted this fantasy light rail map of Louisville, Kentucky.  There’s quite a bit to like here: I love the circular abstraction of the beltway highway around DC, which is then centred perfactly around the District diamond. Peter’s even made sure that the “square” formed by the three main interchange stations – Metro Center, Gallery Place and L’Enfant Plaza – sits at […]

Submission: New Washington, DC Metro Strip Map at Pentagon City

October 22, 2013
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Submitted by Peter Dovak, who says:  Spotted a new schematic installed at Pentagon City Metro station in Washington this week. I’m not sure if this is experimental or what, but I’ve never seen such detailed line info at a station here before. Not a huge fan of the execution, though, the labels are awful skewed! Transit Maps says: In the limited space allowed here, angled station labels are pretty much the only workable option. It’s […]

Historical Map: Street Railways, City of Washington, D.C., 1891

September 24, 2013
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As the first segment of the new DC Streetcar on H Street and Benning Road nears completion, here’s a look back at what existed a long, long time ago. As can be seen at this time, no fewer than ten streetcar companies operated in the District. By 1895, Congress authorised consolidation of the companies and the larger, more successful systems bought out the smaller ones. The map itself is very handsome, with the distinctive grid of […]

Historical Map: Washington, DC Metro Map, 1981

September 17, 2013
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Enough of all this talk about the new DC Metro map; here’s another old one for you – and this one’s a bit of an oddity. An inspection of the southern leg of the Green Line shows that the terminus was then planned to be at Rosecroft, not Branch Avenue. The preceding station shown, St. Barnabas Road, was also never constructed The photos of the map were sent to me by Mark Greenwald, who says […]

Historical Map: “Opening Day” Washington, DC Metro Map, 1976

April 16, 2013
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Directly related to yesterday’s post, here’s an even older map of the Washington, DC Metro – this one is from an informational pamphlet released for the March 29, 1976 opening of the first part of the system, and is clearly dated at he bottom right. Inexplicably, the Red Line is a dark burgundy colour, while the Orange Line is shown as red, even though they’re both clearly labelled correctly in the legend. How a printing […]

Historical Map: Washington, DC Metro Map, 1977

April 15, 2013
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As you may know, I’ve had a lot to say about recent iterations of the Washington, DC Metro Map (Rush+ map review, draft Silver Line map review), but how about a look at where it all began? This is a Metro map from March, 1977 – about a year after the system first started carrying passengers. At first glance, it looks very similar to today’s modern map… but then you realise that the only section […]