True Tube Topography
September 18, 2015 7:17 AM Subscribe
Thanks to a Freedom of Information request, Transport for London have released a geogrphically-accurate map of the tube. [PDF]
Due to the positive response, TfL will be adding the map to the official collection of maps offered on their website.
Due to the positive response, TfL will be adding the map to the official collection of maps offered on their website.
This is amazing. I really wish all metro/subway systems had these readily available. Beyond the obvious help with travel times, etc. I wonder how much this sort of map helps push for increased access in underserved areas? Also, I am unfamiliar with British Law, but why did this require a Freedom of Information Act request? Is that just how all requests are processed? (In the US, FOIA requests are, from what I've seen, generally a pain in the ass for the requester, and sometimes the department being asked.)
posted by Hactar at 7:30 AM on September 18, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Hactar at 7:30 AM on September 18, 2015 [3 favorites]
Madness!
posted by blue_beetle at 7:39 AM on September 18, 2015
posted by blue_beetle at 7:39 AM on September 18, 2015
The Economist had a recent article describing research that showed tube strikes have a net positive economic effect. In essence, tube strikes force people to change the way they travel to work which in a percentage of instances result in people finding a more efficient way of getting to work. The ordinary stylized tube map was assigned part of the blame since it was not to scale and did not reveal anything about the speed of the trains.
The research showed that after every strike a percentage of passengers permanently changed their travel patterns saving so many minutes each day and in the long term saving more money than they cost.
Maybe just publishing a geographically accurate map (with average train speeds and trains per hour) could produce the same effect without all the disruption?
posted by three blind mice at 7:57 AM on September 18, 2015 [2 favorites]
The research showed that after every strike a percentage of passengers permanently changed their travel patterns saving so many minutes each day and in the long term saving more money than they cost.
Maybe just publishing a geographically accurate map (with average train speeds and trains per hour) could produce the same effect without all the disruption?
posted by three blind mice at 7:57 AM on September 18, 2015 [2 favorites]
This map includes/Cette carte indique:
•The actual layout of the lines (Tube, Underground, Overground, DLR, Tramlink & National Rail).
•The position of the stations and their platforms.
•Closed or never opened stations.
•Tracks, maintenance tunnels and line connections.
•Depots, Workshops & Sidings.
•Planned extensions.
•Platform numbers at some stations and opening dates of every section.
•Lifted tracks, disused stations, closed or never opened platforms.
•External connections.
Enjoy!
posted by mbn at 7:58 AM on September 18, 2015 [11 favorites]
•The actual layout of the lines (Tube, Underground, Overground, DLR, Tramlink & National Rail).
•The position of the stations and their platforms.
•Closed or never opened stations.
•Tracks, maintenance tunnels and line connections.
•Depots, Workshops & Sidings.
•Planned extensions.
•Platform numbers at some stations and opening dates of every section.
•Lifted tracks, disused stations, closed or never opened platforms.
•External connections.
Enjoy!
posted by mbn at 7:58 AM on September 18, 2015 [11 favorites]
Also, NYC (via some weird green website)
posted by schmod at 8:05 AM on September 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by schmod at 8:05 AM on September 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
I saw an accurate map of the tube 25 years ago, so am surprised he had to FOI this. I wish I could remember where I saw it now.
posted by marienbad at 8:08 AM on September 18, 2015
posted by marienbad at 8:08 AM on September 18, 2015
Cette carte est totalement magnifique.
posted by hat_eater at 8:11 AM on September 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by hat_eater at 8:11 AM on September 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
Wow, it's so wiggly.
posted by shakespeherian at 8:26 AM on September 18, 2015
posted by shakespeherian at 8:26 AM on September 18, 2015
I'm rather surprised they have such a nice map that is not for public consumption. Most internal maps are more like blueprints with tons of layers.
posted by smackfu at 8:56 AM on September 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by smackfu at 8:56 AM on September 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
I didn't realise you guys wanted this, I've had copies on my hardrive for years...
Assembling the depth data was the trickier bit :)
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 9:03 AM on September 18, 2015
Assembling the depth data was the trickier bit :)
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 9:03 AM on September 18, 2015
True Tube Topography
I was expecting something entirely different from "tube top-ography".
posted by gurple at 9:22 AM on September 18, 2015
I was expecting something entirely different from "tube top-ography".
posted by gurple at 9:22 AM on September 18, 2015
The Northern line over-under at Euston is blowing my mind even though it makes sense from the travel time and escalator /stair lengths.
posted by tavegyl at 9:33 AM on September 18, 2015
posted by tavegyl at 9:33 AM on September 18, 2015
The Northern line over-under at Euston is blowing my mind even though it makes sense from the travel time and escalator /stair lengths.
I remember seeing the unofficial map and the revelation that the non-Mornington Crescent (i.e., Bank) branch goes the other way from how it's shown on the map, i.e., swinging west all the way to Regent's Park rather than keeping east (which would presumably have taken it somewhere under Somers Town). It really underlines how a schematic transport map is not spatial.
I wonder whether the decision to draw it that way was done purely for reasons of aesthetic simplicity or whether there was a more colourful story; perhaps there was a secret nuclear defence bunker or MI5 listening post or something similar under Regent's Park, with a hidden platform in the Bank branch tunnel, and the order was given from on high to maintain the fiction that the branch goes the other way as a form of misdirection?
posted by acb at 9:55 AM on September 18, 2015
I remember seeing the unofficial map and the revelation that the non-Mornington Crescent (i.e., Bank) branch goes the other way from how it's shown on the map, i.e., swinging west all the way to Regent's Park rather than keeping east (which would presumably have taken it somewhere under Somers Town). It really underlines how a schematic transport map is not spatial.
I wonder whether the decision to draw it that way was done purely for reasons of aesthetic simplicity or whether there was a more colourful story; perhaps there was a secret nuclear defence bunker or MI5 listening post or something similar under Regent's Park, with a hidden platform in the Bank branch tunnel, and the order was given from on high to maintain the fiction that the branch goes the other way as a form of misdirection?
posted by acb at 9:55 AM on September 18, 2015
Oh, whoa. I didn't even pause to think that the relative elevation of the lines was accurately represented in the map.
posted by schmod at 10:21 AM on September 18, 2015
posted by schmod at 10:21 AM on September 18, 2015
Also, I've just noticed how used I've become to zoomable slippy maps à la Google Maps/Leaflet; downloading the PDF and finding that zooming in doesn't reveal any more detail feels a bit like an iPad-raised baby must upon encountering a glossy magazine for the first time; it just feels broken.
posted by acb at 10:25 AM on September 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by acb at 10:25 AM on September 18, 2015 [1 favorite]
"Also, NYC (via some weird green website)"
That's a bad map since it only uses a few colors for all of the lines and doesn't say which trains stop at which station.
posted by I-baLL at 11:27 AM on September 18, 2015
That's a bad map since it only uses a few colors for all of the lines and doesn't say which trains stop at which station.
posted by I-baLL at 11:27 AM on September 18, 2015
this is gonna be useful when i slip back into London-Below. Door? have you seen this?
posted by j_curiouser at 11:44 AM on September 18, 2015
posted by j_curiouser at 11:44 AM on September 18, 2015
Totally Tubular!
Considering how very grid-based most of L.A. is (and how few distinct lines they have - they haven't even run out of colors for naming them: Red, Green, Gold, Purple, Blue, Orange, Silver), I don't think a geographically-accurate map there would look much different. (I still haven't gotten used to how San Luis Obispo's city streets are aligned at a 45 degree angle and they almost totally avoid N/S/E/W)
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:26 PM on September 18, 2015
Considering how very grid-based most of L.A. is (and how few distinct lines they have - they haven't even run out of colors for naming them: Red, Green, Gold, Purple, Blue, Orange, Silver), I don't think a geographically-accurate map there would look much different. (I still haven't gotten used to how San Luis Obispo's city streets are aligned at a 45 degree angle and they almost totally avoid N/S/E/W)
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:26 PM on September 18, 2015
The bus maps have always had this information on them, but at a very different scale. And this includes essentially all services you can ride with oyster (including local sections of national rail lines). Bravo!
Wikipedia used to also have maps like this of particular routes, and I used those a lot when I was learning to get around the city, nearly a decade ago.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 7:57 AM on September 19, 2015
Wikipedia used to also have maps like this of particular routes, and I used those a lot when I was learning to get around the city, nearly a decade ago.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 7:57 AM on September 19, 2015
Looking at this I realise exactly how hard done by we are in south London. It's fucking empty south of the river! Look how far apart the stations are!
posted by tinkletown at 9:45 AM on September 19, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by tinkletown at 9:45 AM on September 19, 2015 [2 favorites]
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