

A new take on an old design (London Underground Map) - aerique
http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/07/london-underground-map

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frobozz
IMHO, geographic accuracy is an all-or-nothing feature of a network diagram.
If it doesn't help you decide between walking or riding, then it should
optimise for riding.

This map lacks Beck's clean, diagrammatic style without really adding much, in
fact, unless you look very carefully, it seems not to include the fact that
Mornington Crescent is on the Charing Cross Branch.

Beck's map works because it completely ignores the world above ground, and
allows you to navigate the system at a glance.

That said, I have seen one advantage to this map. Platform Compass directions.
For example:

Stations on the Piccadilly Line, from Turnpike Lane to Cockfosters have East-
and Westbound platforms. This doesn't make sense when read in conjunction with
Beck's map, which draws that as a vertical line, which most people would
interpret as North/South. On this map, you can easily see that East means
towards, and West, away from Central London.

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frobozz
On the very local scale, this map seems to work (the relationship between
Leicester Square and its 4 neighbouring stations looks about right).

On a larger scale, it doesn't seem to work. I looked at a few journeys I
regularly take on foot: two @ 1 mile, one being about twice as far as the
other on the map. Another two @ 2.5 and 3 miles, which were 4 and 5 times the
distance of the shorter mile, respectively.

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icarus_drowning
Just visited London for vacation a few weeks ago. As a non-Londoner, I have to
say that I like the new version much better. I can already see several
mistakes that I made when choosing which routes to take-- mistakes that I
doubt I would have made had I had access to this map. Bravo.

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frobozz
Could you give some examples?

In Zone 1, the stops are so frequent that the number of stops is normally far
more significant than the distance between them; and in the outer zones, you
rarely have a choice anyway.

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icarus_drowning
Mostly it has to do with where things are in reality on the surface rather
than taking wrong routes. You can look at a map of London and try to correlate
the stations on that map with the "official" non-geographical version, or you
can have a map of London and a map of the tube system that's fairly close to
it. Just going off the Thames alone makes it easier to figure out where the
best place to get off is.

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cmarshall
There's a similar geographically accurate map on wikimedia, but without the
simplifications, such as making the section of the circle/district line
through from Notting Hill Gate to Edgware Road straight. Removing some of the
curves and the other changes, while relatively small, really makes the map
easier to read.
[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/London_Un...](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/London_Underground_Zone_1.png)

As an aside, there's some details on wikimedia about how the geographically
accurate maps are plotted:
[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_geograp...](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/London_Underground_geographic_maps)

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beseku
This map might make it easier to see how the tube reflects the geography, and
so conjure a better image of London, but it makes using the tube system much
harder.

As case in point, the fork in the Northern line at Kennington is much harder
to comprehend and the number of tourists who get bewildered by this feature on
the current map is large enough as it is.

It also still misrepresents a lot of the distances between stations, (Old St
to Farringdon is a long way, much further than Old St or Moorgate to Liverpool
St). If you are going for a concept of geographical correctness it has to be
very exact or a complete abstraction.

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frobozz
Another odd thing about this effort, is that it solves a problem that doesn't
exist any more.

The TFL Journey planner will take you from anywhere in London to anywhere else
in London using the most appropriate route; Google directions include both
public transport and pedestrianism; GPS is on a lot of people's phones; and
Legible London fixes the problem for the technophobic.

