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Architect Has Painstakingly Standardized the World's Subway Maps (2014)
- strikelaserclaw 7y agothey look beautiful but does anyone actually use these maps? seems like something an app can do pretty easily.
- TurkishPoptart 7y agoIf they are posted at the metro station and within carriages, I sure as hell would. I don't want to use my phone for _everything_, especially if what I want to see can be mass produced on a piece of paper.
- Mirioron 7y agoBut you'd have to guess which station is where, because the map isn't necessarily representative of it.
- einpoklum 7y agoSomeone has to write that application though. Just think about the amount of work that's gone into GraphViz, and this seems a harder task still, with probably-complex aesthetic constraints.
- et-al 7y agoYes, I actually saved Jug Cerović's Tokyo map on my phone back in Nov 2014. I found it superior to other offerings at the time because it had multiple systems on one map without making my eyes glaze over. Cerović: http://www.inat.fr/metro/tokyo/ http://www.inat.fr/metro/tokyo/ vs Tokyo Metro: https://www.tokyometro.jp/library_in/en/subwaymap/pdf/rosen_en_1803.pdf https://www.tokyometro.jp/library_in/en/subwaymap/pdf/rosen_... vs Tokyo Subway: https://www.kotsu.metro.tokyo.jp/subway/line.pdf https://www.kotsu.metro.tokyo.jp/subway/line.pdf When visiting a foreign city, I'll save a copy of the city's transit map on my phone. It saves me the hassle of squeezing by people to check out the map by the train door, and it's not susceptible to spotty data while underground. btw, Cerović's maps are now offered in an official app. Unfortunately there's no interactivity. - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/inat-metro-maps/id1194423205 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/inat-metro-maps/id1194423205 - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amilutinovic.inat https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amilutinov...
- blackearl 7y agoThey have changes explained if you click into a map. I was wondering how Paris had such a perfect circle line, but it was changed to be prettier and more symbolic. Still neat!
- rudiv 7y agoAww, no Delhi? We got hella urban rail. Although I guess a large proportion has opened after 2014.
- BerislavLopac 7y agoHere: http://www.inat.fr/metro/delhi/ http://www.inat.fr/metro/delhi/
- Mirioron 7y agoI find these maps difficult to use if I'm in a new city. I have to essentially guess which station corresponds to which real world location to plan my trip. Luckily, Google maps can account for that, so only station names become important. At that point, the subway map itself is pointless though.
- gmueckl 7y agoThat is why you need two maps: a geographical map with station locations marked to see which stations are close and the structural map of the routes to determine how to get to the target station you picked in step 1.
- Mirioron 7y agoBut why would I need a map like the one in the article in the first place then? All I have to do is locate the station I want to get to and consult the list of lines leading to the station.
- kevindong 7y agoAlternatively, just use (Google Maps/Apple Maps/City Mapper/Transit/et al.)'s routing. Their routing will generally be better than what most locals could come up with. Although I have noticed that Google Maps tends to assume that transferring between lines has an effectively-zero wait time which is far from the truth in most cases.
- izzydata 7y agoI love the way subway maps look. I would really like to download the higher resolution images, but they appear to be 404.
- BerislavLopac 7y agoYou can find them on the actual site: http://www.inat.fr/maps/ http://www.inat.fr/maps/
- izzydata 7y agoThanks. These images are very large which is great. The Paris one was 5000x5000 pixels.
- nostromo 7y agoI always love a new map, and I can only judge New York City, but for that city, this isn't an improvement. It'd be fine in Manhattan, but it makes it look like the Queens and Brooklyn lines are super close, even walkable, when in fact they're miles apart. Someone may look at this map and (correctly) think that walking from the 4 to the N in Manhattan is easy, so you can also walk from the J in Brooklyn to the R in Queens, which would be, I don't know, at least an hour's walk. I think it's prioritizing aesthetic beauty over function.
- BerislavLopac 7y agoAll symbolic metro maps work ignore physical locations in order to make labels and lines readable and clearly visible.
- bobthepanda 7y agoMost transit maps will generally try to preserve direction, though, in that A east of B will not all of a sudden wind up northeast or north of B. There are exceptions but the amount of directional liberties is fairly small on a standard map. A significant portion of the NYC map is not only spatially but directionally disoriented, which is just confusing. Especially since New Yorkers have a good grasp of the relative directions of things due to the fact that the grid is so prevalent.
- semi-extrinsic 7y agoThe London map has both of these problems as well, it is both spatially and directionally disoriented, and not an improvement over the existing tube map.
- jcranmer 7y agoPersonally, the Toronto map bothers me far more than the NYC map, because here the Toronto street grid is depicted as a NE/SW alignment instead of N/S... and Toronto is closer to a true N/S alignment than Manhattan, which gets a N/S alignment on the map.
- deleted 7y ago
- nkrisc 7y agoThe Chicago map not only includes the CTA (the "subway"), but commuter rail lines in the city as well (Metra). This is actually a very useful feature, especially for people using these lines coming in to the city as there are multiple places you can make a direct transfer to the CTA. Perhaps there are maps targeted to tourists or suburbanites that show it, but none I've ever seen as clearly as this: http://www.inat.fr/metro/chicago/ http://www.inat.fr/metro/chicago/
- gok 7y agoIt's pretty but it would be more useful if it included bus lines, which gets more ridership than the L and Metra combined.
- nkrisc 7y agoTrue, but then it starts to get more complicated as well. The full system CTA maps found at a lot of station and some bus stops are actually very nice, in my opinion. If I recall correctly I've even seen some that show a circular area around the map's location that represents one mile to give you an idea of what's in walking distance around the station.
- munk-a 7y agoI really dislike the style of these maps, the lettering is so sparse and modern that it's hard to read compare his map http://www.inat.fr/metro/boston/ http://www.inat.fr/metro/boston/ to https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/maps/2019-04-08-rapid-transit-key-bus-routes-map-v33.pdf https://cdn.mbta.com/sites/default/files/maps/2019-04-08-rap... is the latter a cluttered mess? Oh heck yea, but it sure is legible - the map he produced is unreadable at the zoom level required to view the full thing on 2550x1440... and legibility is like the whole point.
- hbosch 7y agoThese would be printed, and large. I don't think legibility is a major issue with either map.
- gherkinnn 7y agoI much prefer the “new” map. I’ve never been to Boston. I know nothing about it’s layout. When I give myself to go from, say, Wonderland to Braintree, the new one performs better for a few reasons: - the names of the important nodes are more prominent - the lines are less prominent, there’s no need for them to be so overbearing - the multi-coloured train stations give me a reduced hint as to which lines stop there - for some reason, and I can’t put my finger on it, I find that I can more easily create a mental model of the city. While the actual map makes me feel like a mouse im a labyrinth, scurrying around, never knowing the overall picture.
- ghaff 7y agoRef thinner lines in particular though, one of the trade offs is that information has been removed. For example, which Green Line trains make stops where. Also the connection between Park and Downtown Crossing is no longer labeled leaving us to wonder what it is. There are other examples as well.
- MivLives 7y agoI think the zoom level could be fixed by chopping off some of the newer map. The MBTA map you linked has way less of each regional rail line. My bigger complaint with the newer map is I'd rather a map do better at showing geographic landmarks, like rivers as they make it easier for me to locate where the station is in the larger city. For example: https://geoawesomeness.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Geoawesomeness-Survey-Map-2.jpg https://geoawesomeness.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Geoawe...
- whalesalad 7y agoCam Booth does a lot of similar work. I have one of his DC Metro prints framed in my home office: https://www.cambooth.net/project-washington-dc-metro-map/ https://www.cambooth.net/project-washington-dc-metro-map/ Here is the final product, http://cambooth.net/store/product/washington-dc-metrorail/ http://cambooth.net/store/product/washington-dc-metrorail/
- jandrese 7y agoIt's a bit weird that the map also includes a few lines that aren't subway lines. For example, on the DC map there are a few bus lines listed as well as the light inter-city commuter trains. Its also not clear at a glance which is which when looking at the map. While the extra info is nice to have, people are going to be looking around for subway lines that don't exist. The maps really need a legend. The font is also way too small. If this were posted in place of the regular metro map in the subway, I'd have to stand up and walk over to it to read it. Older people would be pulling out their magnifiers.
- BerislavLopac 7y agoFor actual physical maps, check out https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21817906 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21817906
- chadlavi 7y agoI can only speak to my local system, but the NYC subway map there is a travesty. Everything outside Manhattan is more wildly inaccurate than even the Vignelli maps of the 60s and 70s. I would expect tourists to get much more lost with this map than with the current standard.
- chadlavi 7y agothis version from his site is somewhat better, at least it recognizes that there's water south and east of Brooklyn: https://www.inat.fr/metro/new-york/ https://www.inat.fr/metro/new-york/
- Ididntdothis 7y agoOne big problem with public transportation is that most systems are not very accessible to newcomers so people often revert back to car because it’s easier (at least i do). It would be nice to have an app that for systems worldwide can tell you how to get from point A to point B at a certain time, how to buy tickets, where stations are and so on. So far google maps is the best from what I have seen but it still isn’t prefect.
- BerislavLopac 7y agoYou mean something like Citymapper? https://citymapper.com https://citymapper.com
- luxcem 7y agoCitymapper is really close to that at least in Europe.
- BerislavLopac 7y agoMuch more than Europe: https://citymapper.com/cities https://citymapper.com/cities
- bjelkeman-again 7y agoI tried some really simple things for Stockholm, that I know well. The public transport options are way off. 95 minutes instead of 30 or so.
- dmitriid 7y agoFor Stockholm you want "Res i Sthlm" or SL.se's own app/web site. They use SL's (Stockholm's Public Transport) own APIs and data, so it's always up-to-date, even with minute disruptions on the lines.
- bjelkeman-again 7y agoAgreed. I should have said it.
- clairity 7y agono LA, but SF bay area is here: http://www.inat.fr/metro/san-francisco-bay-area/ http://www.inat.fr/metro/san-francisco-bay-area/
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- gbraad 7y agoBeijing is an old map as it lacks many new lines. Besides, that is what the map basically looked like to begin with... Not much improvement.
- et-al 7y agoThe article is from 2014, and the map is also from 2014. However you can find the Oct 2019 Beijing map here: http://www.inat.fr/metro/beijing/ http://www.inat.fr/metro/beijing/ But I agree that for Beijing, Inat doesn't offer much improvement aside from whitespace--which may not be desired when you're optimising for information density. However from personal experience, their combined version of the Tokyo systems was better than anything else.
- dininski 7y agoI have a funny piece of trivia for you. The name of the project struck me as a little weird. And given how labour intensive this would be it is kind of fitting tho. Oh - inat means spite/stubborn in Serbian.
- anotheryou 7y agoSome changes are quite bold. In Berlin the station "Hansaplatz" changed sides of the other train track. inat: https://i.imgur.com/rRAO7TG.png https://i.imgur.com/rRAO7TG.png google maps: https://i.imgur.com/xF5K56x.png https://i.imgur.com/xF5K56x.png (get's rid of the kink in the orange line though: https://i.imgur.com/PNUbe80.png https://i.imgur.com/PNUbe80.png ) I personally just miss the river as a main landmark.
- Nr7 7y agoCalling this just a metro/subway map seems incorrect at least in Helsinki's case. Its map seems to also contain all tram, commuter train and even a couple of main bus lines.
- jon_richards 7y agoDoes the subway map graphing technique of placing overlapping lines adjacent to each other have a name? A while back I was graphing multiple time-series with discrete times and values, but I got frustrated by how illegible the overlapping sections were. I tried to find a subway-map-style algorithm to solve the issue, but didn’t really know what to search for. I imagine the algorithm itself is relatively complex. Minimizing the number of crossovers is almost certainly NP hard.