Take that, geospatial relationships.
I misread an advertisement on a bus shelter in Trondheim...it was just a bunch of product-related icons sorted on a few spiraling lines, but at first glance I thought it was a transit map... it gave me an idea. I immediately made my way back to my hostel & sketched it out in the only software I had handy at the moment -- Microsoft Paint (1st draft)
Behold: DC Metro ... in a spiral. It includes the Farragut pairing but passes over a couple more complex details such as the Yellow Line running to Greenbelt, Blue Line using the Yellow Line Bridge, and I made a number of names a touch more concise. This should be the final version barring any major glaring errors, though I might add in those two omissions... no reason I can't other than a preference to get some sleep instead of keep working on this.
It was really quite fortunate that all the lines & stations fit together such that this was even feasible. Even more: I could alternate between hot and cold colors to help maintain contrast. It only took me about 30 minutes to determine it was possible & to lay out its general form, though quite a bit longer to try and make it somewhat aesthetic. I kind of wish I could make the spiral a bit more compact, but my Illustrator skills only went so far and How To videos didn't seem to cover that goal.
CREDIT:
Designed in Adobe Illustrator CS5 ... a program I know not what I do
SEE ALSO:
1st draft
2nd draft
3rd draft
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2012 03 xx - Featured on Infographic Database
2011 11 18 - Featured on Stochasticity
2011 11 18 - Featured on Fuck Yeah Cartography!
2011 11 16 - Featured on Transit Maps
2011 11 03 - Used by We Love DC
2011 07 25 - Used by DC Chillin'
2011 07 20 - Linked in Bernie Wagenblast's daily Transportation Communications Newsletter
2011 07 19 - Shared by the Sun Foundation
2011 07 19 - Featured on Human Transit
2011 07 19 - Featured on Greater Greater Washington
2011 07 19 - Used on Prince of Petworth
2011 07 14 - 2nd draft made the evening links on DCist
2011 07 14 - 2nd draft retweeted by perkinsms
2011 07 14 - 2nd draft retweeted by wmataplusside
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I've loved the response to this, though one thing that's been really interesting has been the multitude of interpretations -- largely around what constitutes a "map". My two cents: a map is something you can use to get from point A to point B... it doesn't have to be efficient, so long as all the information is there. It doesn't even have to be geographical: it could be a mapped out strategy for any variety of things. But in the geographic sense: this map has all that you need to navigate the system. My opinion is that it's a map... it's just not a good one. :)
milliped, infosnackhq, and 17 other people added this photo to their favorites.
infosnackhq 23 months ago | reply
Printed and hung on my office door to freak people out. Thanks!
dmcnitt 23 months ago | reply
Brilliant!
thisisbossi 23 months ago | reply
wfjeff 23 months ago | reply
The problem with this is that if you lived on the edge of the city and you wanted to commute to the center (like most commuters), it would take forever. If you added some spokes though running crisscrossing it, it would be a really efficient transit model.
Wizardofwashington 17 months ago | reply
Brilliant work, Bossi. may I share this on Transportgooru.com with proper credits?
thisisbossi 17 months ago | reply
Absolutely- it'd be appreciated if you could include a link back to the photo, too. Enjoy!