
The Economics of Maps [pdf] - benbreen
https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.34.1.196
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davidw
That's kind of an interesting footnote:

> We are grateful to Enrico Moretti

If I'm not mistaken, that's the same Enrico Moretti who wrote _The New
Geography of Jobs_ , which is a fascinating look at the economics of cities
that are trying to attract jobs, as well as a paper on how zoning restrictions
cost the US economy billions of dollars a year by keeping people out of
productive places.

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plastic_teeth
Really interesting. I saw it mentions about distorting distances in the tube.
I always wondered why is important to know the distance while being in a
metro. I know where I'm supposed to go and as long as it's not my first time
travelling I also know how much time it will take. In my opinion the distance
(in km) between stops it's irrelevant. Time is of the essence

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roelschroeven
Metro maps are optimized for finding your way from one metro station to
another. But what I really want is to go from one physical location to
another, and that is made more difficult because those distorted metro maps
don't map very well to the physical layout of the area. It's often difficult
to see how the metro stations correspond to physical locations, and therefore
not straightforward to find out the best total route (i.e. including walking
from starting point to metro station, metro, walk from metro to destination,
possibly other transportation options).

Edit: Tom Scott has a video (somewhat theatrically titled "Lies on the London
Underground") that highlights some peculiarities of the London Underground,
some of which are (partly) caused by the non-geographic nature of the maps:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrHRQSm6LIs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrHRQSm6LIs)

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ghaff
Subway maps are optimized for taking the subway. Which, yes, especially in a
city core with multiple lines may mean they don't really tell you that a trip
taking you through two transfers is only about a three block walk.

But, if what you really care about the physical locations, there are tons of
other maps that you can use. Subway maps try to preserve some correspondence
to the physical world but that's not their primary function.

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kobbe
Please rename the link to "The Economics of Maps (PDF)"

