Submitted by Daniel, who says:
I’d like to submit the official map of the tram network of the Upper Silesian urban area, also known as Katowice urban area. The network currently consists of 29 lines spanning 13 cities and over 300km of single track, making it one of the largest in the world. The map in addition to trams also depicts a few bus replacement services due to extensive renovations of rail infrastructure. What is particular about this map compared to other tram network maps in Poland is its emphasis on borders between cities as the ticket price depends on how many cities you travel through.
Transit Maps says:
An intriguing diagram of a network that I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I knew nothing about – an extensive tram-based network that acts as both city service and interurban connector. It’s perhaps important to note, however, that no one line extends the full length or breadth of the system, meaning you’d have to transfer a few times to get from one end to the other!
For such a sprawling network, the diagram is laid out reasonably well, with a nice chunky design style and clear labelling. The amount of angled labels are perhaps unfortunate, but almost unavoidable given the amount of stations. The black bar for major interchange stations is unusual, but certainly effective at drawing in the viewer’s eye. For the most part, the routes are clear and easy to follow, though the 23’s little turnaround down to Katowice Plac Miarki is very unclear. The sheer number of different travel zones is probably handled about as well as it can be, and I’m certainly glad that it hasn’t been done by using shaded background areas – that would have been a complete mess!
Initially, the most perplexing thing about this diagram is the colour scheme, which seems very skewed towards the pink/purple end of the spectrum. Pinks and purples make up pretty much half of the different routes, while greens and blues seem very under-represented. However, the diagram works surprisingly well when viewed using a colour-blindness simulator, with excellent contrast between adjacent lines… so I wonder if that’s part of the reasoning behind what on the surface looks quite peculiar? For me, the color-blind version is actually better balanced visually than the actual colours, as seen in the detail below.
Our final word: Considering the size and density of the network (over 300 stops!), this really is quite a clean and clear diagram. An apparently odd colour scheme actually works well for colour-blind users, showing the difficulties inherent in designing something attractive and usable for all users of a transit diagram.
Source: Official ZTM website
Yeah, the GZM area transport authority seems to have invested a lot in distinctive design when it rebranded in 2019 – a very important break with their somewhat chaotic past.
I mean, look at this: https://web.archive.org/web/20170920190728/https://www.kzkgop.com.pl/public_media/fb/files/zalaczniki/plan.pdf
(Oh, and if look into the properties of the file, you’ll see it’s actually dated 2011 – no one had the funds to get this monstrosity updated (which is admittedly a map of all their services, not just trams, though) very often (but I have found a different version from 2001 which shows tram lines that have been shut down since…))
Another note – in the GZM, stop names are actually namespaced by district, neighborhood or village, which is represented as light grey names running along the lines in the reviewed diagram and yellow highlights on that monstrosity I’ve linked above (note how no actual borders can be seen in the latter – you just have to ‘get it’, like the ancients did with writing). Stops in the center of each city are listed under its name, which the new tram network map represents with parens. Hence, for example, you can see to “Ratusz” stops on lines 2 and 5 in Bytom – one is actually “Bobrek Ratusz” and the other is “Szombierki Ratusz” – and passanger information systems increasingly add the city name as well, for the benefit of outsiders, I guess, so you get “Bytom Szombierki Ratusz”, for example.
What’s interesting about this system is how it lends itself to naming things after certain kinds of place – just pull up a list of stops (like on jakdojade.pl) and search for “Kopalnia” (mine) or “Kościół” (church) and you’ll see what I mean.