Journal ArticleDOI
Becksploitation: The Over-use of a Cartographic Icon
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Beck's map has become a design icon despite the fact that it eschews topography (other than the River Thames) and focuses on the simplified depiction of the topology of the Underground rail network.Abstract:
When one thinks of a map depicting London, generally the image that appears is that of the map designed by Henry (Harry) Beck (1902–1974). It has become a design icon despite the fact that it eschews topography (other than the River Thames) and focuses on the simplified depiction of the topology of the Underground rail network. Beck’s map, designed in 1931, and first made available to London commuters in 1933, has become the image of the geography of London and, generally, the mental map that defines how London ‘works’. Station names have become synonymous with the above-ground landscape and the network is such that most of London’s landmarks can be readily located through the map. Navigating between them is a simple process and while the city above is a socio-economic and cultural soup, the simplicity of the map brings a sense of order, structure and sensibility. It is a perfect counterpoint to the chaos at street level. In cartographic terms, Beck’s map works and marries form with function perfe...read more
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Automated generation of concentric circles metro maps using mixed-integer optimization
Yingying Xu,Ho-yin Chan,A. Chen +2 more
TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors developed an automatic concentric circles (CC) map drawing method by adopting map design criteria as a mixed-integer programming problem, which can improve map readability and engagement.
Journal ArticleDOI
When Topology Trumped Topography: Celebrating 90 Years of Beck’s Underground Map
TL;DR: The year 1931 saw the inception of what has become arguably the world's most successful cartographic design as mentioned in this paper, with the work of Henry C. Beck, a technical draughtsman who had been laid off by the Underground Electric...
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Another New Design for an Old Map
Kenneth Field,William Cartwright +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, a new map of the London Underground is presented, which is based on the original map of London underground, with a set of visual anchors to assist navigation between points of interest.
Journal ArticleDOI
Designing Public Transportation Network Maps with Anamorphism
TL;DR: In this paper, a large format map for the city of Wroclaw, Poland is presented, which is based on a master's thesis and corresponding map, which focuses on good aesthetics and mapmaking crafstmanship.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Mind the Gap The London Underground Map and Users' Representations of Urban Space
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the effects of iconic, abstract representations of complex objects on our interactions with those objects through an ethnographic study of the use of the London Underground Map.
Journal ArticleDOI
The London Underground Map: Imagining Modern Time and Space
TL;DR: The London Underground Map as mentioned in this paper is the archetypal underground map of London, and it is the most famous underground map in the world, having been created in the early 1930s by an unknown artist.