In a 2019 blog, I explained how you can make a schematic transit map in ArcGIS Pro. The principles for production remain, but I always had a nagging feeling that the map I made, showing my reimagination of the famous London Underground map, didn’t quite cut it. Time to give it another go!
In a 2019 blog, I explained how you can make a schematic transit map in ArcGIS Pro. The principles for production remain, but I always had a nagging feeling that the map I made, showing my reimagination of the famous London Underground map, didn’t quite cut it. Time to give it another go!
In May 2022, ahead of the 90th anniversary of Harry Beck’s original London Underground diagram, the new Elizabeth Line was opened. To me, this added more complexity to an already convoluted map. It is congested, with often overly complicated route directions and intersections. The colors no longer make sense with the multiple forms of transit being shown on the same map, and the distinction between them lacked coherence. The uniform line thickness suggests equal service throughout the network, which is not the case as frequency of service can vary between 30 trains an hour to 1 train an hour. This is information that could be designed into the map’s graphical language.
So, I redesigned my redesigned map from that earlier blog.
This new map demonstrates what a totally redesigned schematic layout might look like. It simplifies the organization of lines and station intersections. Accompanying illustrations show the upper left section of the map.
It uses different font treatments to encode different types of stations (such as interchanges and connections to National Rail services) as well as a redesigned treatment for station symbols. It also demonstrates a new color scheme for the lines based on mode of transport to replace the randomness of the iconic, though confusing, traditional scheme.
The map adds route information alongside lines and in an accompanying table, because not every route segment on a named line travels the full extent or even pairs the same origin and destination. And finally, it encodes frequency of service (expressed as average wait time) by scaling the thickness of route segments to give a sense of how long you might have to wait for your service.
It’s a familiar expression of the famous London Underground map, but it also makes many changes that bring additional information to the user by using a modern, cleaner, more consistent, and visually accessible schema for those with different color vision.
Download the actual map at links.esri.com/undergroundmap. Let me know what you think of it and whether you find the Easter eggs.
Happy schematic mapping!
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