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It's an interesting problem, and it's cool that they've found a decent solution... But I can't help wondering how often these kind of complicated transit junct

It's an interesting problem, and it's cool that they've found a decent solution... But I can't help wondering how often these kind of complicated transit junctions actually occur in practice? There aren't really that many complicated metro systems in the world (to my continuing disappointment), and even they often still have fairly simple junctions. Maybe it would be cheaper and more effective to just hire a graphic designer to hardcode solutions to the worst examples?

Chris_Newton 10y ago
Maybe it would be cheaper and more effective to just hire a graphic designer to hardcode solutions to the worst examples? That’s a pragmatic solution if you’re only designing static graphics, say to print on a leaflet. If you need something more dynamic, with various elements being selectively hidden as they show in the animation just before the article’s conclusion, then beyond a certain point there are too many combinations to prepare them all manually with a sensible amount of effort.
- ant6n 10y ago
  ^ That. Plus, there are actually a lot of systems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metro_systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metro_systems Lists 160 systems. And that's only metro systems. You have to add light metro, light rail, commuter rail. And then you still only have rail. Start thinking about adding buses, and it is impossible to create all these maps by hand, at the various zoom levels.
  - aninhumer 10y ago
    Sure, but outside maybe the top 20, most of those systems only have simple two line intersections (even if they do have a lot of them). And a lot of other rail systems don't make sense to depict as metro lines, because they run detailed timetables rather than linear services. Buses do usually run linear services, but they're often sufficiently dense that metro style maps are difficult to read (they're often best represented as simplified roadmaps with each road labelled with route numbers). Also, you don't need to get everything perfect everywhere right away to start acquiring users. It can be a continuing improvement process.
    - deanCommie 10y ago
      I think the missing detail in this argument is where is this company trying to acquire users from? They are competing for mobile users on Android and IOS who are most likely quite happy with Google and Apple maps. So "good enough" may not actually be to get people to try something new.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - dkersten 10y ago
      Buses do usually run linear services, but they're often sufficiently dense that metro style maps are difficult to read Unless you can selectively hide/show bus routes, I guess. Which is something that this app allows you to do.
    - taejo 10y ago
      If they're doing it for bus systems too, I'd imagine the complexity is much greater. Cities with two or three metro lines might have dozens of bus lines.
33degrees 10y ago
One advantage of their system over a static map is that it varies with zoom level, as lines that are near but not touching when zoomed in would end up on top of each other when zoomed out. The map can display several types of transit simultaneously, like subways and commuter rail, which can be toggled on or off. So you'd end up needing to hardcode many different versions with different settings and zoom levels to get similar results.

Chris_Newton 10y ago

Maybe it would be cheaper and more effective to just hire a graphic designer to hardcode solutions to the worst examples? That’s a pragmatic solution if you’re only designing static graphics, say to print on a leaflet. If you need something more dynamic, with various elements being selectively hidden as they show in the animation just before the article’s conclusion, then beyond a certain point there are too many combinations to prepare them all manually with a sensible amount of effort.

ant6n 10y ago
^ That. Plus, there are actually a lot of systems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metro_systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metro_systems Lists 160 systems. And that's only metro systems. You have to add light metro, light rail, commuter rail. And then you still only have rail. Start thinking about adding buses, and it is impossible to create all these maps by hand, at the various zoom levels.
- aninhumer 10y ago
  Sure, but outside maybe the top 20, most of those systems only have simple two line intersections (even if they do have a lot of them). And a lot of other rail systems don't make sense to depict as metro lines, because they run detailed timetables rather than linear services. Buses do usually run linear services, but they're often sufficiently dense that metro style maps are difficult to read (they're often best represented as simplified roadmaps with each road labelled with route numbers). Also, you don't need to get everything perfect everywhere right away to start acquiring users. It can be a continuing improvement process.
  - deanCommie 10y ago
    I think the missing detail in this argument is where is this company trying to acquire users from? They are competing for mobile users on Android and IOS who are most likely quite happy with Google and Apple maps. So "good enough" may not actually be to get people to try something new.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - dkersten 10y ago
    Buses do usually run linear services, but they're often sufficiently dense that metro style maps are difficult to read Unless you can selectively hide/show bus routes, I guess. Which is something that this app allows you to do.
  - taejo 10y ago
    If they're doing it for bus systems too, I'd imagine the complexity is much greater. Cities with two or three metro lines might have dozens of bus lines.

33degrees 10y ago

One advantage of their system over a static map is that it varies with zoom level, as lines that are near but not touching when zoomed in would end up on top of each other when zoomed out. The map can display several types of transit simultaneously, like subways and commuter rail, which can be toggled on or off. So you'd end up needing to hardcode many different versions with different settings and zoom levels to get similar results.