Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A Tube map of the London Underground that's more useful than the 'official' one

independent.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 47 posts

Re: A Tube map of the London Underground that's more useful than the 'official' one

#31

Post by sklogic »

bbx wrote: post #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 yo…

Definitely useful for me: I walk fast and long distances, and often interested in picking up a tube station which is located roughly in my destination area, with the easiest route from where I am now. Binding stations and lines to a physical map is very useful in this case.

Re: A Tube map of the London Underground that's more useful than the 'official' one

#32

Post by ibmthrowaway271 »

peteretep wrote: post #13
ptype wrote: post #7

Awesome. 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.

I would be more interested in attempting to track actual people moving about London, and extrapolating from there; self-reported short-cuts are all well and good, but actual behaviour overtime, to route around congestion, is much more interesting

TfL do this via Oyster card data but they have to plan for the bulk of people, not to create the fastest possible journey. There are usually much quicker ways to get in/out/through many tube stations but the signposted routes are the ones that can cope with the busiest periods.

A useful map to look at is the one with simple walks:-

http://now-here-this.timeout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/...

It highlights just how simple it is to walk journeys that would naively involve one or two changes; St Pauls to Barbican for example, or Covent Garden to Tottenham Court Road.

[EDIT] Ah, found one of the links:-

http://www.lifehacker.co.uk/2014/05/29/10-best-london-tube-h...

" For example, changing from the Jubilee to Piccadilly line at Green Park, you’re better off going back up the escalators to the ticket lobby, then back down, rather than following the circuitous tunnel round.

...

At the bigger stations, some Underground lines are normally busier than others at rush-hour, so not following the signs can also pay dividends. A great example is Victoria station, where trying to get onto the Victoria line can take up to 15 minutes at 5pm. Instead, head down to the District Line, then follow signs to the Victoria line once you’re down the escalators. You’ll beat the rush, and as a bonus, come onto the platforms at the quieter end. "

Re: A Tube map of the London Underground that's more useful than the 'official' one

#33

Post by baku-fr »

It looks inspired from the updated Paris train map[1]. I wonder if those two are related. However, I'm still used to the old one. Whereas it was geographically less accurate, it was easier to read since stations were less collapsed.

[1] http://vianavigo.com/ the map is zoomable.

Re: A Tube map of the London Underground that's more useful than the 'official' one

#34

Post by learnstats2 »

bbx wrote: post #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 yo…

"Wait, why is the tube turning North? We're supposed to go East!".

This is actually very irritating for inexperienced tube users.

For example, the Piccadilly line is often signed as running Westbound and Eastbound, but a significant part of it runs North-South, according to all the maps, and compared to the Victoria Line which is indeed signed Northbound and Southbound.

Then Euston-Kings Cross is Northbound on one line, and Southbound on another.

Re: A Tube map of the London Underground that's more useful than the 'official' one

#35

Post by learnstats2 »

dood wrote: post #17
peteretep wrote: post #11

Be useful to have a way to submit bugs. Linking "Kentish Town" and "Kentish Town West" stations as an interchange is a non-starter.

Yup, they must be about a mile apart.

0.4 miles.

The point is this: you can touch out and touch in at the other and TfL counts it as the same continued journey (so doesn't charge you for a second journey).

Re: A Tube map of the London Underground that's more useful than the 'official' one

#36

Post by aprdm »

This map just showed me that I can actually have a better route to my daily commute, I've moved to London three weeks ago didn't notice. The London Planner APP never shown me that route because of some default setting!

Will test it tomorrow.

It's from Streatham Common to London Fields, never thought about going to Victoria and then to Moorgate through Circle Line.

Was usually getting the northern line in Balham...

big thanks!

Re: A Tube map of the London Underground that's more useful than the 'official' one

#38

Post by callum85 »

wereHamster wrote: post #28
bbx wrote: post #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 yo…

> Nobody would think "Wait, why is the tube turning North? We're supposed to go East!". I need to go to the tower of london. It is east of my current location, I know because I looked at a tourist map. According to this tube map though the line towards the tower of london stop goes north. Wait, that's not right. Am I going to the right station? Should I be taking another line? Is there maybe a different station that…

Who gets confused by that? It's obviously just a diagram, not a real 'map'. Of course it's not going to look the same as a geographical map.

Re: A Tube map of the London Underground that's more useful than the 'official' one

#39

Post by janus »

aprdm wrote: post #36

This map just showed me that I can actually have a better route to my daily commute, I've moved to London three weeks ago didn't notice. The London Planner APP never shown me that route because of some default setting! Will test it tomorrow. It's from Streatham Common to London Fields, never thought about going to Victoria and then to Moorgate through Circle Line. Was usually getting the northern line in Balham... bi…

This is useful citymapper.com/london

Re: A Tube map of the London Underground that's more useful than the 'official' one

#40

Post by dcminter »

learnstats2 wrote: post #34
bbx wrote: post #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 yo…

"Wait, why is the tube turning North? We're supposed to go East!". This is actually very irritating for inexperienced tube users. For example, the Piccadilly line is often signed as running Westbound and Eastbound, but a significant part of it runs North-South, according to all the maps, and compared to the Victoria Line which is indeed signed Northbound and Southbound. Then Euston-Kings Cross is Northbound on one li…

Or indeed my favourite anomaly the Circle Line which is signposted as "East" and "West" bound despite being a loop!

(Ok, it has a terminus now which it didn't used to - but that doesn't really clarify anything for baffled tourists at Bayswater).

Post reply on HN