Transit Maps of the World

I picked up Transit Maps of the World yesterday and have been enjoying browsing through it. Basically, it's a book of transit maps from all around the world! The book goes city-by-city and covers both large and small systems and mixes maps with text which describes both the history of the system and the history of efforts to graphically depict the system.

Normally people will probably find this book extremely dull and weird, but it makes an ideal gift for the transit enthusiast in your life. Obviously, buying copies of Heads in the Sand for everyone you know should be a higher priority, but the right kind of person (i.e., me) will love Transit Maps.

Comments

I saw this at the bookstore a few weeks ago, very good stuff. Most folks don't realize how iconic Beck's London Underground graphics are, but if you live in a city with subsurface Metro-type service you look at his designs all the time.

Posted by lotosesser | March 10, 2008 1:01 PM

Thanks for the heads up, I'll add that to my wish list...right below Heads in the Sand of course.

Posted by freddiemac | March 10, 2008 1:05 PM

I've leafed through this one a few times at the book store myself, and it really is fascinating.

Posted by Kevin | March 10, 2008 1:23 PM

I bet Transit Maps of the World had a well-publicised launch party.

Posted by otto | March 10, 2008 1:26 PM

It's the Book 7 of transit cartography.

Posted by Aaron | March 10, 2008 1:34 PM

This seriously sounds like like the best thing ever.

Posted by Chris O. | March 10, 2008 1:49 PM

Jesus -- You're a "train-spotter" who reads transit maps in hsi spare time. You have crippling social anxiety that prevents you from talking on phones. And yet you are featured in the NYT style section?

Posted by Ikram | March 10, 2008 1:53 PM

Yeah, before the "NERDZ!" comments get going, let me add myself to a list of your compatriots. This seems completely awesome to me. Public transit map fans of the world, unite!

Posted by jhupp | March 10, 2008 1:57 PM

Basically, it's a book of transit maps from all around the world!

No! Really? I would've thought it was a cookbook.

(See, if I had said the above on the telephone, I could have used tone of voice to indicate that it was sarcastic.)

And yet you are featured in the NYT style section?

Yeah, because back in the day, the Times only devoted the Style section to people who enjoyed making a lot of phone calls, and who could present an affidavit that they weren't transit enthusiasts. Fortunately for Mr. Yglesias, the relevant state law was repealed in 2005.

Posted by mds | March 10, 2008 2:01 PM

We own this book. It's really great.

Besides the fabulous maps, there's a lot to learn about graphic design and the development of public transportation.

Posted by Suze | March 10, 2008 2:09 PM

Yeah, this book is totally great.

L.A.'s transit system is fairly rudimentary at this point (although it's getting better over the years), but a civic-minded dreamer came up with this "fantasy map" of what L.A.'s mass transit could be:
http://thetransitcoalition.us/ConNP01.htm

Posted by Adam Villani | March 10, 2008 2:20 PM

I knew it was Paris after about a second. That, I think, makes me a transit-map nerd. Though the older, less stylised maps were the ones I remember from school French classes, 'direction Porte de la Villette' etc.

Posted by pseudonymous in nc | March 10, 2008 2:38 PM

The great leap forward in transit maps was the realization that it was not necessary for the map to conform to scale. Lines could be made straight; areas of dense concentrations of stations could be expanded; lines to outlying regions could be drastically contracted and bent in order to fit them on the map. While this makes subway maps much easier to read, it gives transit riders a very peculiar mental picture of the geography of their cities. Here in Washington, DC, for example, the area of half the subway map is only a few downtown square blocks.

Posted by Bloix | March 10, 2008 2:55 PM

What a great book for mapaholics like me. Passed the nerd threshold years ago. Spent hours at the Maps exhibit at Chicago's Field Museum.

I want that book.

Posted by Ann | March 10, 2008 3:06 PM

I second - I recognized the city from just a glance at that tiny picture. And I've never been to Paris. Like most native New Yorkers I know, I'm a transit map nerd, having committed the NYC subway map to memory by age 7 or so. And that was in the old complicated days of the Q diamond, the double letters, and the notorious "crosstown local," the cause of many missed 1st innings at Shea Stadium because of its crappy weekend schedule.

Posted by hugo | March 10, 2008 3:55 PM

Hugo, you'll be happy to know the G is much better today than it was then. Its notoriety is its greatest strength: most people are still afraid to rely on it, so it's never crowded when I take it from Williamsburg to Fulton and walk a couple blocks to the 4-5, 2-3, R, etc at Atlantic.

Posted by jhupp | March 10, 2008 4:26 PM

jhupp, I know, it's crazy! I stayed in my old neighborhood right off Carroll St. for several days last year and made extensive use of the G, and never waited more than a few minutes. I couldn't believe it. It was also a reminder of what a great route it is.

Posted by hugo | March 10, 2008 4:46 PM

"i.e." = "id est" = "that is"

"e.g." = "exempli gratia" = "for example"

it's worth knowing the difference.

Posted by dgj | March 10, 2008 4:53 PM

I knew it was Paris after about a second.

Well the two islands in the middle of the river are a bit of a giveaway ;).

Posted by novakant | March 10, 2008 7:33 PM

Got this book from the Building Museum's bookstore a couple of month's ago. It's terrific!

Posted by b | March 10, 2008 9:05 PM

This book was my absolute favorite Christmas 2007 present. I still love it.

Posted by Shaz | March 10, 2008 11:32 PM