Designing "overhead" linear transit maps for railcars

[CTroyMathis]

Just breaking out of another thread to start this theme up separately.

Maps for overheads in trains - which could aslo be used at stations. Not a kind of map that should replace all others, by any means. This is done on many cities' rail system vehicles/stations and sometimes not just as static maps. What would be interesting is to use these kind of map variations at most/all stations locally (including TRE and other transit entities) in digital format showing where the next train is on the line so you have some visual or indication of how long your wait really is - yadda... Then again, you could do this on the trains themselves, as well. Again, some other cities in the world do it digital/lit already.

Here's one rail map, with more to follow. (Feel free to add your own creations/ideas as you please.)

This one is just the Red Line and is geared more toward the local rail system much further along in it's evolution, obviously.




http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4214

[drumguy8800]

:drools:

are you going to make... morreeee? :drools:

[CTroyMathis]

Here's an example for the blue line:

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4216

[texman]

Here's an example for the blue line:

To bad the blue line wont be down to I20 until 2018. Ugh what are they thinking.

[RobertB]

To bad the blue line wont be down to I20 until 2018. Ugh what are they thinking.
I think the problem between Ledbetter and I-20 is the lack of development along the route. As things currently stand, it would be a commuter station, with most of the traffic coming from outside the DART member cities. That means that DART has to add more trains to the Blue Line for passengers who are paying only their $2.50 ticket, and not the $10+ that is subsidized by sales tax revenues. I don't think DART will be willing to extend the Blue Line until there's some sort of regional transit authority that includes revenues from cities and counties that wouldn't otherwise have the foresight to join DART.

Back to the primary topic, though... man, do those maps rock, or what? I even like the Star Trek font he used for the route name. Live long and propser!

[CTroyMathis]

Ha! Trekorama. I'll actually be fixing all those fonts eventually - they're a little 'off.'

Anyway, here's an example of say - an Express TRE train's overhead map lit up with location/travel progress:


http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4221

[RobertB]

One stylistic question: should all the stations that are common to two or more lines be drawn as Transfer Stations? Or perhaps only the more important transfer points? For example, in the Red Line maps, your important stations are:
* 8th/Corinth (split with Blue-Ledbetter).
* Union (meet TRE-Fort Worth)
* West End (split with Orange-Carrollton and Purple-Irving)
* Pearl (split with Orange-Pleasant Grove)
* Mockingbird (split with Blue-Garland)
* LBJ/Central (end of line for Purple)

I was hoping to find other cities' examples, but I'm not having any luck. The big NYC System Map (http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/nyct/maps/submap.htm) doesn't work as an example because they have local vs. express stations marked, and express stations naturally tend to include transfer points. The very cool Moscow system (http://www.metro.ru/map/2004.html) doesn't seem to have many concurrent routes. I found a theoretical paper (http://www.elroi.com/papers%20GIS%20LIS%2088/GISLIS88.html) on building schematic maps. The best example may be the London system map (http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/images/zone_big.jpg) -- look at the Pink Line where it shares stations with a Green Line on the right side of the map. But still no "linear map" examples. Maybe they call these maps something else besides "linear subway maps"?

[Foucault]

Wow...all of a sudden I have a much greater regard for the Soviets...that would make them, what, 999,999 below zero? :D

[drumguy8800]

Wow...all of a sudden I have a much greater regard for the Soviets...that would make them, what, 999,999 below zero?
Unfortunately, there are no "Soviets." Check a map.


Ha! Trekorama. I'll actually be fixing all those fonts eventually - they're a little 'off.'

Anyway, here's an example of say - an Express TRE train's overhead map lit up with location/travel progress:

Nice!

[RobertB]

Unfortunately, there are no "Soviets." Check a map.
But there were plenty of Soviets around at the time the subways were designed and built... that's what the poster meant. Check out this page (http://www.metro.ru/map/) with links to maps from every phase of the system's construction, all the way to 1935 -- before WWII (known as the Great Patriotic War in the USSR, BTW).

Of course, considering Cold War politics, the system may have been designed more as a poke in the eye of the already-established "capitalist dogs" NYC subway system, just like our space progress was fastest when we were catching up to the Soviets (Sputnik, Leika, Gregarin...)

[texman]

I've heard their stations look more like Cathedrals.

[drumguy8800]

Unfortunately, I don't read Cryllic.

[RobertB]

Unfortunately, I don't read Cryllic.
Well, for a mapgeek like myself, the map itself is enough. I could spend days just riding around the system. Heck, I could spend days looking at the map and imagining I was riding around the system.


I've heard their stations look more like Cathedrals.
They were intended to be temples to the superiority of the Soviet system, the Worker's Paradise, or as Reagan called 'em, the "Evil Empire". Sometimes, I miss the days when you could look at a globe and identify the Bad Guys... without actually having to invade them and find out that "there's good and bad in everyone" (Stevie Wonder). Oops, my '80s are showing...

[texman]

Sometimes, I miss the days when you could look at a globe and identify the Bad Guys... without actually having to invade them and find out that

If Toby Keith heard this, he would kill you. I'M AN AMERICAAAAN

[RobertB]

If Toby Keith heard this, he would kill you. I'M AN AMERICAAAAN
No, he'd put a boot in my ***, it's the American way.

If I'm even on Toby Keith's radar, I'm sure I'm on his **** list anyway. I'm the webmaster of The All-Inclusive Dixie Chicks Page, http://www.dixie-chicks.com/

[CTroyMathis]

Anyway, I'll get back to the rest of this thread soon. ( 'Bout to get socked in with 15-20" of snow - what else will there be to do? :D )

[Mballar]

Anyway, I'll get back to the rest of this thread soon. ( 'Bout to get socked in with 15-20" of snow - what else will there be to do? :D )

^How's it coming Troy? I've been waiting patiently with baited breath for your next map. Could it possibly be the Orange Line? . . .or maybe the purple?

[mikedsjr]

Sometimes, I miss the days when you could look at a globe and identify the Bad Guys... without actually having to invade them and find out that "there's good and bad in everyone" (Stevie Wonder). Oops, my '80s are showing...

You mean you still have no clue who the bad guys are looking around the world? You must be a liberal and only see bad guys in America with elephants on their cars. :D

just kidding.

[CTroyMathis]

Time flies. How 'bout editing the first two maps, adding the green, and promising to get to the other lines this week... (?)

Admittedly, I still want to draw the more notable/important transfer centers up on another edit (real quick and easy) and also I haven't followed a lot of items in the recent news (last month or so) re: DART and other rail initiatives. I'll catch up eventually - I know I'll have errors on the western portion of the purple line and possibly some of the orange... I'll just go with it and edit as we see fit. Also, some other cleaning up of the current linear approach might be in order - the conversion to *.gif from *.png softens the final outcome quite a bit it seems.

Anyhow, examples of immediate edits... IE, forgot to remove a vertical line at the bottom right of the blue line map. That's for the purple and orange lines where the airplane symbols for the airports will go. Another example, I forgot to actually put the airplane symbol above the Centreport station on another map - yet, remembered to put it in the legend... yadda yadda. I forgot to also double-check if all TRE stations/trains are "accessible" so I can leave the wheelchair symbol to globally cover the whole map vice putting in individual mini-symbols per station. Not to mention I wrote 'Fare Boundary Zone' vice the correct terminology of 'Fare Zone Boundary.' No problemo on that as everything is a layered object and yet again - quick and easy to edit...

Lastly, remember these are drawn with a few caveats, such as AmTrak still being around in the same format whilst other stations in the middle of the next decade are just coming online... So, anyway - yeah:

ATTACHMENTS REMOVED. EDITED AND REINSERTED A COUPLE OF POSTS DOWN.

[RobertB]

Where's that :slobber: smilie when you need it?

[CTroyMathis]

A few edits from yesterday's red, blue, and green lines uploaded.
Plus, the purple line.
Bonus, a look at the DCTA line that I arbitrarily gave a dark green color to.
Orange line, tomorrow or this weekend - plus probably a few extra ones.

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6525

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6526

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6531

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6533

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6536

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6528

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6534

[CTroyMathis]

Anyone catch where parking might be on the new lines? I read at least Inwood and also the Market Center/Oak Lawn...

I'll delve into that part this weekend I suppose. Dark green, purple, and upcoming orange lines will have the parking icon left there in the legend until I/we source it.

[RobertB]

A few edits from yesterday's red, blue, and green lines uploaded.
Plus, the purple line.
Bonus, a look at the DCTA line that I arbitrarily gave a dark green color to.
Orange line, tomorrow or this weekend - plus probably a few extra ones.
Still slobbering. Corrections:

* Purple Line: U of D station is before So. Las Colinas, not before DFW.

* DCTA: Should DART connection at Carrollton Square be graphical?

My only design-oriented concern is the squares representing transfer points. It seems like the underlying geometry would be clearer if you could find a way to show when the lines run concurrently. Something like this -- although my example only shows how much clearer yours are!

[CTroyMathis]

I noticed the oops on the Uni. D thing... result of typing everything out beforehand, and Uni. D misplaced in the wrong order. And, uh, not thinking while placing.

I left the Carr. Sq. note in the legend.

[CTroyMathis]

I'm surprised I didn't write UTD on the map, I always do that for some reason as well. I just had to edit UTD out of my last post.

[RobertB]

Related to transit maps... Moscow is given above as an example of a really kick-butt subway system. However, it looks like economic realities have hit home. The 2005 map page (http://www.metro.ru/map/2005/) includes both the 2004 and 2005 maps, and several of the proposed routes have now been eliminated. And none of the proposed routes made it to reality, as far as I can tell. Still an impressive system, though.

[CTroyMathis]

You know, I've been trying to keep it simple and as clean as possible all this time, but, I will see if I can think of a minimalist way to show concurrence. I'll work on that after I finish up with this standard. I think I have a pretty good idea exactly how to keep it clean, without squares for LRT lines and with thin colored lines. Cool idea.

RE: Carrollton graphical, not a bad idea. If I do that, I should probably make the TRE graphical for AmTrak and DART to keep with some sort of standard.

[CTroyMathis]

Okay, purple line edit done. Univ. of Dallas is now not transplanted to far north Irving.

[CTroyMathis]

Another thing about the squares...

I originally was thinking pretty far ahead, and it became a cumbersome feat to sift through so many possibilities.

I was originally considering that the subway line to be built downtown would allow for the transit mall to have one directional flow and the subway having the opposite. With that, I was going to put little white directional arrows in the squares - thus the necessity for such color-coded squares. And, then there were other little nuances.

Naturally, I gave up because I wanted to at least get an up and running look and it was bordering on too much embellishment and guessing on my part. I still fully plan 'fantasy mapping' later.

Again, I think I can make concurrent lines work fairly well - leaving squares for the non-concurrent lines such as MATA, TRE, SkyLink, LC APT, and uh - the Dallas Zoo? J/k on the animal house.

[Mballar]

Where's that :slobber: smilie when you need it?
Word! Keep up the good work Troy. :)

[big-tex]

I really like the maps.

also hopefully this won't derail the thread but
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=238866 <--had to share these pics of the Moscow underground

[gc]

Wow!

[RobertB]

I really like the maps.

also hopefully this won't derail the thread but
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=238866 <--had to share these pics of the Moscow underground
Wow... if I ever make it to Moscow, I doubt I'll ever emerge above ground. We should *definitely* pattern the Downtown Subway stations after those, except with oil derricks in place of the hammer-and-sickles, and bas-relief images of J.R. Ewing in place of Lenin. :)

[CTroyMathis]

Orange line done now, I think. Inserted up above in Post 21 (http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/showpost.php?p=77211&postcount=21).

Thanks!

[RobertB]

aaaahh... that's the line I'll be riding daily, all the way from Buckner to Carrollton.

Here's an idea for transfer points. Perhaps it's not as important to know *every* spot where you can switch from Red to Blue, but where you *have* to switch if you're taking the other line. So instead of putting a blue square on every Red Line station that's shared with Blue, just put a blue square on the transfer points. But also include the blue square on other major transfer points, to prevent any confusion.

With the present-day system, your Red Line map would have a blue square at 8th/Corinth, a blue and green (TRE) square at Union Station, and another blue square at Mockingbird. I don't think you'd count the MATA connections as a "major" transfer point, so St. Paul and Cityplace just get a single black (MATA) square.

The Orange Line map would have red/blue/purple at Pearl, red/blue/purple at West End, purple/green (TRE) at Victory, purple at Bachman, and green (DCTA) at Carrollton Square. In addition, you'd have the indicator for MATA at St. Paul.

Of course, I'm not the one with the skills and the tools. I am, in fact, ridiculously happy with the maps just as they are!

[CTroyMathis]

I like that idea as well, Robert. I do appreciate the feedback.

Keeping with the previous standard (uh, just mine actually,) I inserted yet another overheader for the Las Colinas APT, although perhaps needless for such a minor system; but, one day could be quite interesting and far more useful upon expansion.

One major caveat in the light-weight map is that there is a quick underlying assumption that both the Lake Carolyn and S. Las Colinas DART station location options are chosen that include the Las Colinas APT connector. I can't say I really have a preference on just one connector or two, but, if choosing between one station or the other were mandatory - I'd definitely go with the Lake Carolyn station.

Las Colinas APT overhead inserted in same post above, Post 21 (http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/showpost.php?p=77211&postcount=21).

[saxman66]

You should add on to the DCTA Commuter line and have it go all the way to Dallas. (That's what I think it should do at least). At Carrolton the line will split off and go down the BNSF? line to the TRE line in Irving. Then it should continue on along the current TRE route to Union Station.

Other than that, nice diagrams.

[texman]

You should add on to the DCTA Commuter line and have it go all the way to Dallas. (That's what I think it should do at least). At Carrolton the line will split off and go down the BNSF? line to the TRE line in Irving. Then it should continue on along the current TRE route to Union Station.


I wish they could do that too, but the authority (DCTA) decided against it because of the higher cost per rider. Oh well, maybe it'll happen someday.

[Mballar]

Are we in need of an update here? :-)

[dfwcre8tive]

Here's a new one DART is using in presentations... it's a bit confusing to read.

http://www.dart.org/about/inmotion/spring09/images/raillinemap.gif

[NThomas]

If it wasn't "forced" to face north, IMO it'd, be easier to read but it doesn't look too confusing, ok maybe just a little... But that's much easier to understand then this (http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1341/1109529010_2778e65435_o.jpg)

[mjblazin]

Does DART ever plan to configure signs at stations to show on which side to stand? Other cities show last stations for trains on that side. DART either expects you to know or check the little maps next to the ticket machines or see the sign on the oncoming train (and jaywalk if on the wrong side). I would not have survived in Paris Metro or Boston T with that presentation system.

[palchik]

There are already such signs at every station. They say Red Line to Parker Road (for example) on one side, and Red Line to Westmoreland on the other. Look for them next time (they are right next to the station name in the center of the platform).

[dfwcre8tive]

Wouldn't it be better to create individual maps for each line? Seems it would be less confusing and could utilize all 4 of the map spaces around the doors.

http://dart.org/about/servicechange/06dec10/maps/gifmaps/dartrailcircuitmapdec2010.gif

[kirkc]

I have trouble figuring out that map every time I see it, the funky twist to the green and orange lines as they go through downtown. If you turn the map sideways, with lines going east and west, instead of north and south, it becomes more simple.

I don't have the tools to draw in graphics, but this is my attempt in ASCII characters. Most stations abbreviated to one char and many left off for clarity.


^
N|

l
Green o--------------o mc o---o Red line
\ / Orange line
\ v w a s p /
TRE o=============o===o-----o---o---o---o---o---o------o Blue line
mm \\ / \ c m
z \\ / \
Red o------o o us o-----------o Green line
\ / d
m \ /
Blue o------o--o---o---o
8 c con