Time to reinvent the London Tube Map?

[Ameecher]

A number of discussions have been taking place recently in various places that feel that the iconic London Tube Map might need a bit of a revamp as it's getting quite crowded, the addition of crossrail and potentially CR2 in the future won't help matters so how about project mapping's 2018 tube map as envisioned here:
http://projectmapping.co.uk/Reviews/Res ... 202018.pdf
Obviously not perfect but elements are much clearer, it also puts the focus on Crossrail and Thameslink being the major east-west and north-south routes and makes the circle line rather more true to its actual path and therefore less likely to be the default choice.

Edit: obviously TOCs will change and the West Anglia suburban stuff will be LO but you get the idea.

[JamieLei]

Personally, I've never been a fan of anything Project Mapping have churned out, especially their UK Railway diagram that was for a while published on the National Rail Enquiries website. It's always tried to be too clever. In this case, there's no consistency of gradients (this is essential to have a clean map - even the NYC Subway map has consistent gradients to a certain extent) and the London termini are far too prominent, drowning out all the other stations. Central London is just a mess.

I know that it's a London Connections map rather than a Tube Map, but the Brighton Main Line (London Bridge), GWML and WCML simply just dominate the thing. I'd rank it worse than the Tokyo Metro Map, and that's saying something...

I really don't think the tube map needs reinventing at all. There's some criticism that I'll accept about the prominence of information dedicated to disabled access (although I believe that there are good and justified reasons for that).

[Redirect Left]

Personally I'm not seeing the benefit from this reinvented map. Seems even harder to understand than the current one!

edit: that tokyo metro map, good lord.

[Chrill]

As an outsider, that map looks messy to me. The current maps feelsa lot more clear.

[SHADOW-XIII]

I was always thinking that the current London map isn't accurate, especially in the City and West End areas - the stations are spread there too evenly making people travel the short distances they could walk in 10 minutes, sometimes even less than that.

But I think that map is just too messy, too much information:
- tube
- rail within London zones
- rail outside London

On the other side the problem are proportions, I see no benefit of national rail lines being bold/thick, they should be thin and/or faded to be less visible (to create focus on the actual tube lines and the city centre)

Another issue, it's hardly readable on 17" screen and people need to be able to read it on much small piece of paper (eventually smartphone screen)

[Dave]

Concur with everything Shadow says.

Tube and TfL operations only please.

[Ameecher]

This is really a replacement of the London connections map which is a hopelessly difficult map to use in any case.

[JamieLei]

I still think that it is easier to use than the Project Mapping version. It's consistent at least, and highlights that you don't need to funnel into a terminus to pick up your train, as the Project Mapping one heavily implies.

[Geo Ghost]

http://projectmapping.co.uk/Reviews/Res ... 202018.pdf
Obviously not perfect but elements are much clearer, it also puts the focus on Crossrail and Thameslink being the major east-west and north-south routes and makes the circle line rather more true to its actual path and therefore less likely to be the default choice.

FCC making a come back? hehe.

I'll be honest, that is pretty ghastly as a general tube map.
Fine for those who are good with maps and know London well. But very confusing for anyone else.

I think the current London Underground map is still fine. Tad hard to follow for some, but it's done the job well for years.

The London Connections map however with all the national rail links... that's a whooole different ball game. Looks fine at the moment as an 'extended tube map' but it will become confusing no doubt in the future.

The projectmapping one there is utterly horrible to be honest. Very hard to follow. Took me 5 minutes to figure out where the Crossrail was. Ideally, the national rail lines should have black edges or something of the sort so it's a lot clearer to identify the two types of lines - Underground and National Rail.

[JamieLei]

I suppose that they were taking inspiration from Germany. It does slightly annoy me when British trainspotters go on their holidays and come back evangelising about Deutche Bahn... (ICE passenger environments are lovely but surveys constantly show how Germans are some of the least satisfied in Europe in their railways. If anything goes wrong then you're abandoned, is the general theme, while the UK railways will at least compensate you and lay on buses or taxis to make sure you get to your destination.)

Anyway I digress. Clearly, Project Mapping have taken a big leaf out of the way that S-Bahn is presented on maps, ie: in Berlin and Munich. While the maps are rather clear (consistent text, equal gradients and angles), the S-Bahn lines simply dominate the thing, leading one to think that the line - which is often no more frequent than an U-Bahn line, is the best way forward. Indeed, in London, Crossrail will be relatively infrequent compared to the Central Line, and Thameslink is just slow; you're much better off taking the Northern Line.

[Kevo00]

Quite how this somewhat crowded map could ever have been thought better than the TfL map I'm not sure. I do use this guy's 'journey pro' app, but that is more because of its app functionality, not because the map is any good.

Stadtbahn maps do have the advantage that they show individual S route permutations, however, while this attempt is somewhat more oblique!

Some of the interchange stations have interesting, er, shapes.

[JamieLei]

Stadtbahn maps do have the advantage that they show individual S route permutations, however, while this attempt is somewhat more oblique!

That is true, although most of our Tube lines branch off anyway. The Central Line, District line, etc have God know how many permeations and we wouldn't dream of drawing them as separate lines!

Thenagain we did split off the Met line into two separate lines..

[Ploes]

Why does every |||||| line need limited service next to it... isn't that the point of a key?

Also why shift the focus out further? We dont need Wendover on a London map, and even Chiltern dont show the link to Paddington any more!

[JamieLei]

Why does every |||||| line need limited service next to it... isn't that the point of a key?

Also why shift the focus out further? We dont need Wendover on a London map, and even Chiltern dont show the link to Paddington any more!

Because it's a map for trainspotters. Clearly, the fact that Reddish South receives one train a week is by FAR the most important thing about the British rail network. It's an outrage that the tourist guides to Great Britain don't emphasise this marvelous fact.

Also no idea why vast swathes of SWT are on there either, way beyond Z6...

[Ploes]

Is it me, or does Victoria station look like its giving you the finger?

[JamieLei]

Is it me, or does Victoria station look like its giving you the finger?

Looks like something else to me.

[Ploes]

Is it me, or does Victoria station look like its giving you the finger?

Looks like something else to me.

Blackfriars must be cold....

[Pilot]

Is it me, or does Victoria station look like its giving you the finger?

Looks like something else to me.

Blackfriars must be cold....

What about poor Cannon Street? Must be freezing

[JamieLei]

Blackfriars must be cold....

What about poor Cannon Street? Must be freezing

We've discovered where Hitler's been hiding out all this time

[Ploes]

Liverpool Street should go see a Doctor about that lump....