Harry Beck's diagram of the 7+ lines of the London Underground, although geographically inaccurate, provides a coherent overview of a complex system. With excellent color printing, classic British railroad typography (by Edward Johnson), and, in the modern style, only horizontal, vertical, and 45 degree lines, the map became a beautiful organizing image of London. For apparently quite a number of people, the map organized London (rather than London organizing the map). Despite 70 years of revision due to extensions of the Underground and bureaucratic tinkering (the marketing department wrecked the map for several years), the map nicely survives to this day.Note the “geographically inaccurate” portion of the above quote. A "geographically correct map":http://www.kordy.dircon.co.uk/misc/alt-map.gif of the London Underground is available. The problem with the inaccuracy of the standard map is that it can lead to a very distorted view of London. Many of the station are geographically very close and while you could have walked the distance in five minutes, you might not realize that and wait a while waiting for the train. And vice versa. So really, what this map is meant for (and by this map, I mean the standard London Underground map that is in use, not the geographically correct one) is for people that have learnt the city and the idiosyncracies of the map and distances involved. I still believe that the "New York Subway Map":http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/nyct/maps/submap.htm is one of the finer ones around. Sure, it might not be as clean or elegant as the London Underground one, but it's close, and you still get a very clear picture of distances as well as of locations.
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Posted at 05:20 AM