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A Circular New York City Subway Map To Straighten Things Out

Posted by timothy on from the now-go-help-charlie-get-off-the-mta dept.

Daniel_Stuckey writes "The U.K.'s Max Roberts, a mapmaker and critic, has created a map that sees this problem and then solves it by adopting a similar distortion strategy to the MTA map, but to a far greater degree. The map heads in the direction of a diagram and away from a map representing features. It may be the most lucid reinterpretation of the New York City subway map I've seen yet."

14 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. Huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "The U.K.'s Max Roberts, a mapmaker and critic, has created a map that sees this problem and then solves it"

    Sees what problem?

    Seriously, if you're going to summarise an article event then fucking do so the right way...

    1. Re:Huh? by Chrisq · · Score: 4, Funny

      ....sometimes the maps show stations as connected but there's a long walk underground, for instance.

      I once had the opposite problem on the London underground. I can't remember where exactly but I think it was going from the Planetarium to another tourist attraction. I looked at my underground map and saw I had to take two trains and switch lines to get to another station near the other attraction. I went into the underground and after waiting for trains emerged 20 minutes later - and realised that I was a few hundred yards down the road from where I had started!

  2. Laconic by EdZ · · Score: 4, Informative

    Concise description: a map of the New York subway system drawn in the style of the London Tube system map.

  3. Circular Tube Map by BenJury · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The circular tube map, in my opinion, is much better than the square one we have now. Since the original was created quite a number of lines have been added, as well as tram lines and the overground lines which has caused it to be come quite cluttered. The circular map seems to solve this and give a much better indication of where the line actually goes. I'd hope TFL look at it closely.

    I don't know much about the NYC subway system but one thing is obvious, they really need to rethink the colours for the lines in Brooklyn, as they're far too similar!

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    1. Re:Circular Tube Map by hymie! · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The subway system's colors weren't designed for Brooklyn. They were designed for Manhattan.

    2. Re:Circular Tube Map by BenJury · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No, because its not the point of the map. its purpose is to make it easier to navigate the transit system. For example when your on a train, do you want a clear and concise diagram of the system so you can see where to change lines, or do you want a map that is geographically correct but is all squished together?

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    3. Re:Circular Tube Map by Zakabog · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The subway map is roughly geographically correct while not being all squished together. It's easy to see what stops you need to get off when you need to transfer and also it works as a real map for most tourists since a lot of attactions are displayed on the map (Rockefeller Center, Natural History Museum, Central Park, etc.) As a native New Yorker that uses a subway map almost daily, this circular design doesn't seem to add any benefit.

  4. Current map? by loufoque · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Where is the real map so that we can compare it to it?
    Why can't people write good articles? Including the current map for comparison should have been an obvious thing to do.

    1. Re:Current map? by Kilo+Kilo · · Score: 3, Informative

      This is a few years old, but a pretty good example. It's the first thing I looked for too.

      I'm not a native NY-er, but I'm pretty familiar with the city and I'm good with maps. If I need to go from Manhattan to Brooklyn, I know in my head where I'm going on the map. This thing distorts a traditional map so that geographically you're all messed up.

      Probably the best thing the MTA can do would be to make separate maps for the different lines or even just the different boroughs. Or just have a friggin' touch-screen kiosk that will tell you what train to get on.

    2. Re:Current map? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Ask and ye shall receive.

    3. Re:Current map? by dinfinity · · Score: 4, Informative

      Wow, that looks so much more useful.
      They should switch from the stupid circular map in the article to this one ;-)

      Seriously, though. The reason they didn't include this map in the article was probably because it is so obviously better than the circular one. They had to juxtapose the circular one with nothing to make it look like it's worth anything.

  5. Useless by Karmashock · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The problem is that subways rarely take you exactly where you want to go. They take you NEAR where you want to go. So your destination is not the subway station you're going to but some other place not on the network ABOVE GROUND that is near that station. Which means distorting the subway map into a flow chart that doesn't line up with the above surface maps/topography is a deal breaker. I want to know where the hell I'm going. Not just the name of the station but the actual street I'm going to pop out at. Because that's where I'm actually going.

    This might work fine for tourists. I really don't know. Maybe some guy reading off a card finds this more useful for getting around. But couldn't the same guy do just as well with the old map? I just don't get the point of this map. It makes the map less useful.

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    1. Re:Useless by BenJury · · Score: 5, Informative

      But that's the point, these stylised maps are to navigate the transport system, not to get around at a surface level. They serve different needs. When you've a map where all the lines are geographically correct it makes it hard to understand how to get from station A to station B, make out the station names and there is a lot of wasted space! Have a look at the London underground geographical map vs the actual tube map for example.

      Far better to have a map that fits the purpose. If you want to navigate at the surface level, buy a proper map.

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  6. Manhattan and subway maps by fazookus · · Score: 3, Informative

    This makes sense. The original subway system started in Manhattan and it is still basically the hub for the entire system... if you want to go from the Bronx to Brooklyn you have to go by way of Manhattan. If you take the F train in Queens to go to Brooklyn you use the 'downtown' train, named so because it goes downtown when it goes through Manhattan. There are generally no direct lines borough to borough though there are exceptions, so Manhattan, while physically small, is disproportionately large in terms of lines and passengers served, as is shown on the circular map.