Well, this is the latest ‘WTM for WTM’ (World Tube Map in time for World Travel Market) – I’ve had to cut & shut certain sections together, but I hope the concept is now a lot clearer than it was in the first draft.
Here’s a snip of the detail – the whole image at the moment is poster sized (2800 pixels wide). I will be slimming it down to a postcard / web version shortly – but the full version can still be printed and read (just) at A4.
Enlargement of small section of World Tube Map
Obviously, there’s quite a bit to explain about how the map got to its current stage, and again I will try to do that later. I just promised myself I’d get something up before heading down to World Travel Market. The key point about the map is that it is a way of viewing the world ‘as it could be’ – taking the idea of the ‘global village’ into the middle of this century, and showing how everywhere could be linked together – both physically by a high speed train / maglev network and metaphorically through cultural or commercial connections.
Updated 29/11/09
Here’s a very simple tube map for London tourists, which I like a lot!
The Guardian’s Jonathan Glancey has an interesting article about the challenges of keeping the London tube map clean, now that the Oyster card system will be extended to trains & river services. It really is time I volunteered my services!