Joho

Subway & Rail Mapper for the World

I'm a huge fan of maps of any kind. I've been working in the mapping industry for more than a decade.

Most digital maps are about plotting latitude and longitude of places. Geography is conserved but an overview of the city is no longer possible. Many details are lost in the strictly science-based or rule-based presentation. Sure you can search for what you want, but a map is also a book that people read to derive details from, not just an index of locations.

Subway maps don't have to be spatially accurate because clarity in presentation trumps geography. The tiniest details about transfer stations must be shown, and it doesn't matter which side of the city a transit user is on, or at least so conventional subway map designers believe.

I take a hybrid approach. I distort the maps. I stretch out areas where details concentrate (usually city centres) and compact the areas where details are sparse, but the product must contain simple and traceable lines, and major intersections must be visible. The result is a map that you can study and quickly remember the city's urban geography in broad stroke. This allows efficient navigation without constantly having to depend on navigating software and map search