Lost Maps

Fans of the ABC television program, Lost, are excited that the final season has begun. Maybe... just maybe they'll finally get some answers... I tried to watch a bit of the show in the first season but generally couldn't bring myself to care.

However, just any other fantasy world (see Lord of the Rings, etc.), Lost fans enjoy creating maps:



The folks at io9.com have pulled together a collection of Lost maps and diagrams, including "Inside the Hatch" and a transit map!:



No spoilers here... My prediction: The series will end as equally satisfying as the finale of The Sopranos.

Via The Map Room

#550

Dayton's Miami Valley Rail Authority

Transit Map Theme Week on Cartophilia concludes with a look at transit maps close to home.

Dayton, Ohio, is the only city in the United States that can claim more than 120 years of continuous electrically-propelled public transit. In the beginning, it was electric trolleys. Today, the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority operates eight different electric bus routes, in addition to standard diesel buses.



For more info on Dayton's electric transit system, visit The Dayton Railway Historical Society.

However, at one time it seems, Daytonians had dreams of a light rail mass transit system for Dayton. The Third Rail tells the story of DART Derailed—Light Rail Frustrated in Dayton, Ohio. At the tail end of the article, reference is made to Darrek Jones' brilliant Miami Valley Rail Authority website. Unfortunately, the parody website no longer exists, but through a search of The Web Archive and Robert Reynold's Whimsical uses of the subway map theme, I've been able to piece together a couple images.





Theses images appear to have been created between 1999 and 2000. According to Reynolds, "The original pages for MVRA constituted a hoax web presence for the entire operating company, with pages describing all phases of MVRA operation and containing an introduction to all key personnel... a tour de force!"

What detail! But why? Was it just a hoax? A labor of love? Neither Reynolds nor I can determine what became of Darrek Jones. He no longer appears to live in the Dayton area... If anyone can fill in more details about this fantasy transit system, let me know.

#530

Ike Underground and Simplified

Transit Map Theme Week continues here at Cartophilia.

The representational diagram style of the London Underground map has become the worldwide standard for maps of rail systems. Why not highway systems? Several variations of the United States highway system presented as a simplified diagram have turned up lately.

As a tribute, Cameron Booth has created his own Eisenhower Interstate System in the style of H.C. Beck's London Underground Diagram:



In detail:


Last year, I highlighted Chris Yate's The Eisenhower Interstate System (simplified). This month Chris informed me that he has created a new, revised edition that addresses many of the errors and omissions of the original:



Finally, for your amusement, another take on simplification: A Numeric Topology of the United States Eisenhower Interstate Highway System available as a poster from Hedberg Maps:



Hedberg Maps; their motto says it all: "Life's Too Short for Bad Maps"

New York City Subway Map Fabric

I'm catching up on fun maps during Transit Map Theme Week here at Cartophilia.

The City Quilter of New York City "specializes in fabric for the urban quilter and sewer" (oh, sew-er, I had to re-read that before I understood they weren't talking about the underground sanitary system...) including New York themed fabric patterns like this:



The New York City Subway System is available in three backgrounds (white, beige and black).

Other New York City themed fabrics; taxis and the New York Times:



Via The Map Room

MapMarks Transit Blog

This week is Transit Map Theme Week at Cartophilia!

In the last several weeks I have either happened across, or had links to interesting transit maps sent my way. So many in fact, I don't want to cram them all in to one post.

Today, I will introduce you to a new blog by Transit Map maven, Mark Ovenden: MapMarks. Mark promises to share with us about "maps, metro's, cartography, transport and a handful of other nonsense."

Mark Ovenden is the author of two recent books on transit maps:

Transit Maps: The World's First Collection of Every Urban Train Map on Earth
Paris Underground: The Maps, Stations, and Design of the Metro UPDATE 1/12: This book just got a review in the NewYorker.

Via The Map Room

Fantasy Transit Maps

Aaron M. Renn at Urbanophile offers a collection of Fantasy Transit Maps. Here is one artist's (Michael Tyznik) vision of a subway system for Columbus, Ohio:



You can even buy a poster!

Other Fantasy Transit System cities include Cincinnati, St. Louis, and New Orleans.

Don't we all wish our cities had clean and efficient mass transit systems?

Tunnel vision: a history of the London tube map

At the Guardian: Tunnel vision: a history of the London tube map



Jonathan Glancey asks, Is it the end of the line for London's iconic tube map?

The expansion of the Oyster card brings yet more change for Harry Beck's classic design. It's time to go back to the drawing board.

Can any of my UK readers explain to me what is an Oyster card?

#505

Dayton Real-Time Bus Schedule Map

A very clever use of Google Maps. A real-time bus route map for Dayton, Ohio:



The author, "dmcmanam", says on DaytonMostMetro:

If you want to know the Dayton RTA routes and view the location of the buses then check out the website I'm building -
http://geek-mafia.appspot.com/

It is based on Google Maps and shows the bus routes and schedules. At this point I'm looking for feedback about what features to add next and what people like and dislike about the site. Currently 5 routes are mapped and adding a route takes me a few hours to generate the GPS data such as location of the stops and to convert the timetable posted on the Dayton RTA website to the Google Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) format my system uses.

When I know that there is some local interest in a cool transportation website I'll add the features people request.

The DMM board should be very useful for me - I was born and raised in Dayton but spent the last 15 years elsewhere so I have few local contacts. I appreciate all feedback on the site, positive or negative. I am aware of 1 technical issue currently in the Mozilla browser the page does not always come up and you must repeatedly click "Refresh" until the map shows. No known issues in Safari or Chrome.

Just noted above, I have also had trouble loading this app in Firefox, so try IE or something else.

Interstate Highway System as Transit Map

This week Cartogrammar is highlighting the coincidence that two different city magazines used a transit map theme for the "Best of 2009" issues this year:



Also, coincidentally this week, while looking for something else I was reminded of this clever invention: The Eisenhower Interstate System (simplified) by Chris Yates:



Previously seen here and here, and available from the designer as a print.

Be My Cartographic Valentine 2009

Be my Cartographic Valentine:


Alison Murray Whittington

UPDATE 2/14: And now I can reveal this this print is also the Valentines Day gift to Mrs. Cartophiliac.



Zero Per Zero



Two Writing Teachers



Eric Rasmussen

More aerial photo valentines at Damn Cool Pics.


Be My Cartographic Valentine 2008

Milky Way Transit Authority

Samuel Arbesman is a researcher at Harvard Medical School, and an amateur astral transportation cartographer... His interest in astronomy and transit maps has led him to create this fanciful Milky Way Transit Authority map:

Our galaxy is unimaginably vast, and we really have no idea what is out there. We are discovering new planets in other star systems all the time, learning new facts about the galactic core, and even learning about whole new portions of the galaxy. This map is an attempt to approach our galaxy with a bit more familiarity than usual and get people thinking about long-term possibilities in outer space. Hopefully it can provide as a useful shorthand for our place in the Milky Way, the 'important' sights, and make inconceivable distances a bit less daunting.

Arbesman's page also includes links to several other idea-based transit maps, some that I hadn't seen before, such as modern music and creative and important people in history.

Gracias to Señora Cartophiliac, La Gringissima, for the tip.

Mexico City

Yesterday I wrote about a new book, National Geographic Society Exploration Experience: The Heroic Exploits of the World's Greatest Explorers, that includes reproductions of historical maps inserted in pockets with nearly every article. One of the maps I enjoyed was this one, attibuted to Hernán Cortés, of Tenochtitlan, the capital city of the Aztecs.



It reminded me that I have not shared all of the map postcards I brought back from my trip to Mexico last August. (The others are here, here and here.)

Below is a map postcard of the Centro Histórico. Our hotel was on Avenida Cinco de Mayo, and the rooftop restaurant had a terrific view of the Metropolitan Cathedral and the Federal Building both on the Zócalo, a large central plaza. It was a short walk to many of the other important and interesting sights.



To get to other parts of the city, we did not hesitate to take the city's underground metro system. It was less expensive, sometimes quicker, and generally more safe, than taking a taxi.

New New and News Maps on Magazines

Magazine cover designers never disappoint me. I can always count on a map or two every month. This month I present magazines with the word "New" or "News" in their title. How about that?

The New Republic August 13, 2008 Cover story: Trading Places by Alan Ehrenhalt The demographic inversion of the American city. The tiny image here does not do the cover justice, but it depicts the new "heart" of cities that are revitalizing, in the style of a transit map.

Two maps from the New Scientist magazine in one month! First, August 6, 2008, another transit map is used to illustrate the story by Mark Buchanan on Why complex systems do better without us

The August 20, 2008, issue fills a water balloon globe to illustrate: Looming water crisis simply a management problem, by Jonathan Chenoweth For another cover on this theme, see Squeezing out the last drops, my magazine post from earlier this month.

Finally, the September 2008 issue of ARTnews uses a map tatoo of China to introduce us to China's Art Market Boom by Barbara Pollack

Maps On The Brain

A selection of recent publications with maps on the cover:

A book:

The Political Mind: Why You Can't Understand 21st-Century American Politics with an 18th-Century Brain by George Lakoff

The author attempts to explain why a great number of Americans actually vote against their own interests.



Some magazines:





The cover of this issue of The New Yorker (June 23, 2008) features cover art, “Summer Job”, by Bruce McCall.

If you cannot make out the detail, it fancifully depicts bears checking in and out of the "Employees Entrance" at a National Park, while the tourist are reminded, "No picnicing in Buffalo Wallows."

If you look very closely, you can see that, yes indeed, there is a map! A "You Are Here" map of the park for the tourists.

This cover reminds me of the old Warner Brothers Cartoon where Ralph the wolf and Sam the sheepdog clock in, as buddies, before battling over the sheep.



“Subway Man”, by Roz Chast, graces the June 30 issue of The New Yorker. A stressed out commuter IS the transit map of Manhattan.

Finally, the June 21, 2008, issue of the New Scientist magazine features a very hot looking planet Earth, for a cover story on global warming.


#207

Mind the Gap

From the BritishDepot.com. Get your London Underground gear:

This site if full of everything that a British expat or fan could want, from biscuits to oven mits and flip-flops to lentil soup.

Use one of these mugs to drink your soup... and never get lost on the tube again...



A Friendly Reminder to American Tourists.

Spoof London Underground Announcements by Emma Clarke

Take Manhattan

For your entertainment, two views of New York City:

Places & Spaces presents "New York - Global Island" by Danielle Hartman. "This image of Manhattan presents New York literally as a global island. Country shapes are arranged into the form of Manhattan. The circular title reintroduces the shape of the globe. This map is inspired by the international diversity if New York’s residents." Based on 2000 Census Data.

_________________________________________________

From Appealing Industries, an animated GIF starts with a blank subway map and draws each line in the sequence in which it was built.





Via the Manhattan Users Guide.

Das Taxi

Classify under "interesting maps found while looking for something else"...



This appears to be a "transit map" of possible taxi routes in Hamburg, Germany. I cannot discern if this is a serious map, or a bit of humor... could this mass of squiggles actually be useful?... It is entertaining, nonetheless.

Image found on this Russian website: Das Taxi - Схема метрополитена, by way of The Where Blog

Transit Maps of the World

I've been waiting for months, and I finally got my hands on a copy of Transit Maps: The World's First Collection of Every Urban Train Map on Earth, by Mark Ovenden. This work is a comprehensive collection of historic and current maps of every rapid-transit system on earth. With all of its colorful graphics, it makes a beautiful coffee-table book for travel and graphic design enthusiasts.

Major cities all over the globe are included. Here is an example from Tokyo:



Also included, this fanciful map of a world united by a single transit system:



The history of the London Underground can be charted by the succession of user maps that were produced through the last century:



From my collection, two postcards of the London Underground showing some growth of the extended lines:

1985	circa 1995

Below are the other two transit map postcards from my collection:



Trade offers for for additional transit map postcards are always welcome.

For additional fun with transit maps, see my earlier post.

Finally, this transit map representation of Eustace Tilley. This map was one of the winners in a contest where artists were invited to create new versions of the mascot of the New Yorker Magazine.

“Eustace Tilley Subway”, by Alberto Forero, Minneapolis, Minnesota