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London Tube map redesigned by Essex lecturer goes viral

bbc.co.uk

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Re: London Tube map redesigned by Essex lecturer goes viral

#51

Post by herculity275 »

bombcar wrote: post #31
PaulRobinson wrote: post #21

Not sure I enjoy it. It's aesthetically pleasing at first, but then it just annoys me. All maps have problems with representing distance and space in a 2D form, but this become a little absurd. As an artistic experiment I'd give him a pass except he explicitly said: "Let's get the geography as well because, with maps, shapes and geography are important. Let's try to make my map better than TfL in every way". He then…

This is the thing people forget about maps - any map is a falsehood, because it's not the thing mapped. It has a purpose and will bend various things to best serve that purpose. A subway map is NOT a walking map; it's (usually) a guide to the transit system and how to get from station to station.

In London lots of platform signs are directional - "northbound" vs "southbound", "eastbound" vs "westbound". Navigating them effectively often requires knowing (at least vaguely) which direction you're moving in. This map completely removes that intuition, in that sense it's strictly less useful than the default TfL one.

Re: London Tube map redesigned by Essex lecturer goes viral

#52

Post by fanf2 »

indoordin0saur wrote: post #47

This is like the Vignelli map for the NYC subway. It's been renowned for a while and efforts lobbying for it to be the official map are slowly working.

Max Roberts also has a concentric New York subway map http://www.tubemapcentral.com/showcase/favouritefiles/NY_Cir...

Re: London Tube map redesigned by Essex lecturer goes viral

#53

Post by the_other »

kqr wrote: post #17
latexr wrote: post #5

> He added: "I also thought, 'Let's get the geography as well because, with maps, shapes and geography are important. Funny. I remember watching a design documentary years ago where they made the exact opposite point: subway maps were trying to get the geography right but that became unwieldy and confusing, so the epiphany was that connections mattered more than the geography. That the way people were using the maps…

I'll never forget the day I thought I might change from one station to the next by walking, because they were right next to each other on the metro map – only to discover they were actually a couple of miles apart. Or the time a relative visiting the city took the wrong train because when they needed to go north, the metro map showed northbound trains as eastbound in that area. I think there is a compromise to be mad…

The station labels are at about the same angle as the perceptual cut-off of my astigmatism, so neither the usually-horizontal nor usually-vertical pers of the letters are in focus. The spaciousness and directionality of the map are nice, but it’s much harder than the all-horizontal London map.

(TBF I live in London so I’m fairly comfortable with the Tube map)

Re: London Tube map redesigned by Essex lecturer goes viral

#55

Post by latexr »

wfleming wrote: post #19
latexr wrote: post #5

> He added: "I also thought, 'Let's get the geography as well because, with maps, shapes and geography are important. Funny. I remember watching a design documentary years ago where they made the exact opposite point: subway maps were trying to get the geography right but that became unwieldy and confusing, so the epiphany was that connections mattered more than the geography. That the way people were using the maps…

It is useful for the geography to be at least close-to-correct, because step 1 of navigating a transit map is deciding if transit is the best way to go . The tube map is well known for having spots that make this deceptive, e.g. tourists would take the tube from Bank to Mansion House, although it would often be faster to walk.

> It is useful for the geography to be at least close-to-correct

I agree. I don’t think the point in the documentary was that geography in subway maps is irrelevant, just that it is secondary to connection clarity. When in doubt, prioritise for the latter.

Additionally, I remember they made this comment specifically about the London Underground map, it wasn’t a blanket statement for all subway maps.

Re: London Tube map redesigned by Essex lecturer goes viral

#56

Post by downvotetruth »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #10
hprotagonist wrote: post #4

I liked the anagram map. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_anagram_map finding a high quality SVG version in 2006 before it got taken down was a point of some pride for me at the time. I probably have it laying around somewhere still..

Upload it to Archive.org

https://web.archive.org/web/20151123223320/http://www.unfort...

http://barryheck.freewebspace.com/

https://web.archive.org/web/20190810004219/http://barryheck....

Re: London Tube map redesigned by Essex lecturer goes viral

#57

Post by klondike_klive »

herculity275 wrote: post #51
bombcar wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the thing people forget about maps - any map is a falsehood, because it's not the thing mapped. It has a purpose and will bend various things to best serve that purpose. A subway map is NOT a walking map; it's (usually) a guide to the transit system and how to get from station to station.

In London lots of platform signs are directional - "northbound" vs "southbound", "eastbound" vs "westbound". Navigating them effectively often requires knowing (at least vaguely) which direction you're moving in. This map completely removes that intuition, in that sense it's strictly less useful than the default TfL one.

What used to drive me nuts was the announcements referring to the platform _number_ on the underground. Always struck me as the most user-unfriendly way to do it - it works above ground because you can usually see other platforms from the one you're on. But underground you may as well call them by flower names or famous pigs of history for all it helps in navigating.

Re: London Tube map redesigned by Essex lecturer goes viral

#59

Post by lores »

School-Cotton wrote: post #28

Given that various non-Underground rail services are shown, I wonder why the Heathrow Express isn't.

Seems like an overlook, although the Express is a bit of an odd duck. Relatedly, TFL's pedantry about Underground vs other rail is driving me batty. No one cares about rail gauge when they travel. Calling the Elizabeth "Elizabeth line" is ugly, and signs in Heathrow pointing to the Underground when the Elizabeth is in another direction entirely are downright insane in a place full of tourists. It confuses me, a Londoner, those poor sods carrying heavy luggage through doomed corridors stand no chance.

Re: London Tube map redesigned by Essex lecturer goes viral

#60

Post by alternatetwo »

tetris11 wrote: post #50
alternatetwo wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, there are two stations on the Berlin map which look quite far apart but are easily walkable in 5 minutes.

Bank and Monument are what spring to mind, though in both projections look pretty close.

It’s S Feuerbachstraße and U Walter Schreiber Platz.
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