Present Tube Map.

This map came along on Going Underground's Blog... doing quite the opposite: curves only!

farm2.static.flickr.com/1384/577152141_b243e4c33f_o.jpg

And a detail



Edited by Colin - the first image has been changed to a link as it breaks the forum guidelines for both maximum pixel & file size limits. This thread refers:
districtdave.proboards39.com/index.cgi?board=Announcements&action=display&thread=1163057347

Both maps are mine, I've been busy last few years!

'Eggs' on the all-curves map were deliberate, I wanted to get rid of straight lines completely (except for interchange lines), but circles/blobs have the disadvantage of not being directional. Combining the two results in eggs. The hollows were an experiment to alert people to the presence of a station as they followed the line. This seems to be unpopular, but I can easily solidify them. I think that standard ticks would definitely look wrong on an all-curves map.

Good points for the multiple angles map (codename crazy map). The only problem is that this one really is like a piece of woven cloth, unpick one part and the rest unravels. I would have to start again. So, changing round the Northern Line would be difficult. One day, if I do version 2, I will try it. On the whole, kinks on this map look like mistakes unless they have good reason, so bending the H&C twice would look like a mistake. The only exception is the Central at Roding valley, one single kink gave a very weird looking U shape.

Am currently in the process of changing graphics packages, so who knows what will happen next. Playing around with the map rules has been quite an eye-opener, you never look at other maps in quite the same way again.

The problem with the curvy map is Heathrow. It is far from being SouthWest of Richmond, and as soon as you lose geographical integrity on this scale the tourists get confused coz it doesn't match up. The rest, especially the SW curve from Rayners to Uxbridge is very good geographically.

Looks like a Picasso piece, or that someones just gawn mad with some spaghetti!!!

I quite like the little bitbot things denoting the non-interchange stations...

The Tokyo Metro has very good station maps on it's website, something I'm surprised the map happy TfL havn't done yet.

Example for the complex Otemachi:-
www.tokyometro.jp/rosen/eki/otemachi/img/map_rittai_1.gif

The closest I know of for London is the See How They Run stite - www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7069/stations.html
Which has 3D plans of some tube stations. However it only has a limited selection, not all are up-to-date and it hasn't been updated since 1999.

What is done at all stations in Tokyo, are signs on the platform with both a surface exit map, and a list of exits (numbered or lettered), each with a list of locations accessible from that exit (road names, major shops, tourist attractions etc). Each exit is well signposted. The system is simple and easy to use.

We do have this, but...

I would rather work things out while sat on the train, rather than block up the escalator landing on the way out. Also, in some stations, where you exit from the platform determines the exit options that you are later presented with.

The Paris Metro guide is really rather good. For each station it shows where the platform exits are, which lines and street exits these lead to, and has surface street maps showing entrances (and exits, usually not the same, the Metro constructors learned about crowd segregation years ago) as well. This is very very useful in Paris, as a lot of the stations there are very deviously constructed. Quite often, some exits are only available from some lines (e.g. Oberkampf), and so you almost have to trick the station into letting you go to where you really want to go. Other stations (such as Chatelet Les Halles) are miserable depressing nightmares, and if you get lost you can spend days trying to excape.

You'd be surprised. I was in Paris with Mark Ovenden a few years ago, so hardly a pair of Metro novices, and to our amazement, despite carefully checking the signs, we kept finding ourselves going in the wrong direction, and had to double back. By about the third time we wondered whether we were going mad, and actually returned to one station to retrace out steps. There was an ambiguous sign at a particularly important point. This happens to me every trip to Paris at least once, I usually find that strategic use of the "Passage Interdit" corridors will let me double back.

Back to Oberkampf station, my hotel was there, its a bit of a run down area, not dangerous, but not so nice at night. One Metro exit was right next to the hotel, the others much further away. The one I wanted was only accessible from one line in one direction, so I needed to pretent to change trains, then exit, a bit like Elephant & Castle but without the signposting.

The wheelchair signs are hopeless for the following reasons:

1) They just show step-free access to the platform, not whether or not you can actually get onto a train from the platform (e.g. the compromise height stations).

2) They only show station entry, not interchange. People in wheelchairs who join the train at Tottenham Hale can do a little bit more than travel to Brixton.

3) They don't show which part of the station you need to enter to get to the lifts. E.g. only the Waterloo Road entrance to Waterloo will actually let you get to the Jubilee Line platforms.

4) Many people with sufficient mobility problems to qualify as disabled don't need a wheelchair. They just need to avoid long walks or lots of steps.

5) And even the symbols we have are not the full story. Some access arrangements involve lifts, others are surface stations which are easy to get to. If I needed to worry about this, but had a choice, I would always go for an interchange/entrance on the level rather than one that required a lift for the simple reason that lifts are always breaking down, ramps are somewhat more reliable!

So, at best the information here is insufficient for wheelchair users, at worst it is actually misleading. Worse still, for people with visual or cognitive impairments, the map has been made harder to use!

For the vast majority of journeys, the symbols don't tell you what you need to know. They are sufficiently useless as to be not worth cluttering the map with. Their provision carries a cost, and the cost is not justified by the services that they provide.

If you are carrying luggage, chances are you don't have much choice in your journey anyway. You have a home station, or stations, whose access situations you are fully aware of, and you have your destination objective. If its Heathrow, you are in luck, if its Gatwick then you might choose to get to there from London Bridge rather than Victoria, but what if you can't get to London Bridge directly? What about all the interchanges? Their quality is not mentioned on the map, nor can they be. Victoria is generally easier to get to because the Victoria Line has lots of high quality cross-platform interchanges. The Northern Line generally has awful interchanges. The Jubilee Line has very long interchanges that all too often rely on technology. If the technology is not working, you might have to try a different station, and miss your plane. So, what is the best way to get to Gatwick? The wheelchair symbols don't help on that one.

If we choose a station, say Tottenham Hale (but you know which of your local stations you can get to step-free, don't you) then my step-free advice for getting to Gatwick would be to change to the Northern Line at Kings Cross, but the map doesn't even hint at that.

Similarly, Colchester to Heathrow Airport is possible with very few steps but only if you go via the Circle Line via Tower Hill westbound, and via Baker Street Eastbound.

Of course, as Tube geeks we can probably name every single cross-platform interchange on the network, but we are probably a bit hazy about what interchanges are possible with lifts (but from experience these should never be relied on) and which stations are easier to enter than others. But, what about people without this knowledge to begin with. Its these people that this information is being aimed at.

One point could be that ramps length the journey for people that have problems walking. I dont think there is a one solution for everyone as needs vary too much. i wonder what soluation for this they came up with during the planning of JLE or was it just put lifts in?

No it isn't... there's no tea-cup

And it's a promotional map for London Overground, so any other significant changes aren't going to be on there.

Is the teacup still on the cards? It's not mentioned in either T2025 document.