A Tube map of the London Underground that's more useful than the 'official' one
1–10 of 47 posts
Re: A Tube map of the London Underground that's more useful than the 'official' one
#2You cant redesign the tube map; its embedded in many minds and most people know it as the logical map of London.
Even the London Connections map is based on it.
Re: A Tube map of the London Underground that's more useful than the 'official' one
#3A direct link to the map SVG here - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Sameboat...
Unlike in the official version, different branches of the London Overground Network are now in different colours, although annoyingly the original east london line is nither called that nor orange. The Northern Line is also split into the the Northern line and the Edgeware Line
Some handy interchanges are highlighted and the correct geographical relationship between some stations is shown. Also stations close to each other where the ticketing system allows passengers to make interchanges are grouped together, like Euston and Euston Square.
Re: A Tube map of the London Underground that's more useful than the 'official' one
#4Still doesn't really show my favorite shortcut of walking from Paddington to Lancaster Gate, but definitely a lot more geographically useful.
Re: A Tube map of the London Underground that's more useful than the 'official' one
#5You cant redesign the tube map; its embedded in many minds and most people know it as the logical map of London. Even the London Connections map is based on it.
Cargo cult mapping - genius
Re: A Tube map of the London Underground that's more useful than the 'official' one
#6I once wondered about making handkerchieves printed with tube maps for major cities. You'd gift someone a traveller's set complete with London, Paris, New York, etc. Light weight and OK to put through the wash.
Good back up resource if needed, until it was covered with gunk and not something you wanted to pull out in public... A flaw in every plan!
Re: A Tube map of the London Underground that's more useful than the 'official' one
#7Awesome. Thinking about it, the tube map is actually something that might benefit from some crowd sourcing. There are so many intricacies that can be taken into account (how long walks are between interchanges etc.), connections that are better made by walking etc.
Re: A Tube map of the London Underground that's more useful than the 'official' one
#8A direct link to the map SVG here - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Sameboat... Unlike in the official version, different branches of the London Overground Network are now in different colours, although annoyingly the original east london line is nither called that nor orange. The Northern Line is also split into the the Northern line and the Edgeware Line Some handy interchanges are highlighted a…
Only point of contention is that it's missing the Zones information, so that people are aware of the ticketing costs.
Re: A Tube map of the London Underground that's more useful than the 'official' one
#9You cant redesign the tube map; its embedded in many minds and most people know it as the logical map of London. Even the London Connections map is based on it.
The tube map has been redesigned dozens of times. Here's a good book on the history of the map: http://www.amazon.com/Mr-Becks-Underground-Map-History/dp/18...
Re: A Tube map of the London Underground that's more useful than the 'official' one
#10"more useful"
That is certainly up debate.
The reason why the diagrammatic layout was (and is) highly praised by the public is because of its readibility.
People only look at 2 locations: their current one and their destination. They will eventually look at possible routes and keep track of a couple of intersections. But everything in between remains unnoticed. It's like believing that users look at every pixel of your website while they actually scan a few spots only.
The physical inaccuracy is irrelevant because you travel underground and only have a sense of time, not of space. Nobody would think "Wait, why is the tube turning North? We're supposed to go East!".
You would think the geographical accuracy of the updated map could be useful for determining which route is the quickest (assuming that physically shorter == quicker). But several additional factors come into play, like traffic, distance between 2 platforms, distance to the street...
This new map also mixes accurate layouts and schematic ones (for outer stations). So it's hard to tell at what point you can still rely upon the map for physical accuracy.
I actually find this unofficial version really appealing. Probably because it's a fresh view on a familiar visual, and provides some "Oh, that's what it looks like" moments. I'm just questioning its usefulness, especially in a time where looking at a map has been rendered obsolete thanks to Citymapper.