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NYC New Subway Map

nytimes.com

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Re: NYC New Subway Map

#13

Post by easterncalculus »

Maps are to be read. If you want a subway map to frame for your apartment, then the current/old one looks nice, but the new one is just easier to read - particularly in a moving subway car, through a dirty pane, and from 3 feet away. Especially in the age of smartphones, if you're doing navigation on a train (or station) you likely don't have a phone or are already lost, the map should be optimized to be easy to read in either scenario.

Re: NYC New Subway Map

#14

Post by tekla »

jablongo wrote: post #7

Yea I don't get the point of this. Someone convinced someone that the old one was bad and they need to spend $ on a new one? I personally prefer the old one because it gives you a better idea of how far things are.

The map is optimized on how to USE the subway. It's not like the old map was particularly good at showing relative distance.

You just use the rule of thumb 2-3 minutes per station and problem solved.

Re: NYC New Subway Map

#15

Post by mmooss »

kmoser wrote: post #6

I can see the advantages of both styles. Scale and proximity are very important to people traveling to destinations they don't usually travel to (often tourists), but the schematic nature of this new map definitely makes it easier to tell how the system interconnects. It would be great if, in addition to providing realtime bus and train info, the MTA provided realtime station info so third parties could create maps i…

For purposes of a subway trip in Manhatten, for example, scale isn't that important - a train will quickly take you a long way if you can get on the right one.

Re: NYC New Subway Map

#16

Post by bananalychee »

Looks much better. The current map is a nightmare for readability, especially when you're squinting from a distance trying to read it inside a subway vehicle without encroaching on the personal space of someone sitting below it. For actual locations in relation to other points of interest, consult a general-purpose map, there are more options for that than there are readable and up-to-date alternative renderings of public transit network maps.

Re: NYC New Subway Map

#17

Post by tekla »

kmoser wrote: post #6

I can see the advantages of both styles. Scale and proximity are very important to people traveling to destinations they don't usually travel to (often tourists), but the schematic nature of this new map definitely makes it easier to tell how the system interconnects. It would be great if, in addition to providing realtime bus and train info, the MTA provided realtime station info so third parties could create maps i…

They do, for as many lines that have the ability to do it.

That's what the Google maps data is based on.

Re: NYC New Subway Map

#20

Post by JCM9 »

The map still amusingly mostly pretends that New Jersey and transit running into New Jersey doesn’t exist. For example, the PATH is very faintly represented but yet the JFK AirTrain (which isn’t part of the subway and the airport isn’t run by the MTA) is given more prominent status. PATH is owned by the same entity (PANYNJ) that owns the AirTrain but is nearly hidden on the map because it goes to New Jersey.

Back when the SuperBowl was in NYC there was a full transmit map produced that acknowledged and displayed the existence of New Jersey and its transit into and out of NYC. After the Super Bowl the MTA quickly took it down and New Jersey was returned to its former “we’re gonna pretend like you don’t exist” map.

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