On the Design of Schematic Transport Maps

Abstract

Schematic drawings of route directions are one of the most common forms of graphic communication. People make sketches to communicate geographical ideas, and professionally designed schematic maps give orientation to thousands of users of a public transport system. Creating a schematic map for representing a transport network may be seen as a straightforward task; however, the underlying design of such maps can be quite complex. Map designers apply, consciously or subconsciously, various cartographic generalization techniques to emphasize important information and to improve the clarity of map content. At present, traditional mapping and GIS literature offers very little guidance to a map designer seeking cartographic rules or practical ideas for representing the elaborate route data of public transport systems schematically. This article aims to contribute to the design challenges of schematic, route-based mapping. Information about schematic maps and symbolization of route-based data is given. A case study of schematic map design for a public transport network is presented to show the need for support of cartographic science for the creation of schematic transport maps.

Drawing and Labeling High-Quality Metro Maps by Mixed-Integer Programming

“…The negative comments concerned the display of parallel lines (16), the fact that labels are too close to the lines (6), and that the layout is too far from geographic reality (3). The following changes were requested: parallel lines should be made thicker and separated by white space (18), the distance between labels and lines should be increased (14), labels should be larger (6), and diagonal labels should be avoided (2).…”

“…Thus automating the drawing of metro maps in order to assist map designers has received increasing attention in recent years by researchers in the graph drawing and information visualization communities. Avelar and Hurni [16] report that truly easy-toread schematic maps exist only for a few cities, mainly in North America and Western Europe. As reasons for the scarcity of good schematic maps they name a lack of funds for map preparation in the tight public transport budgets and a lack of tradition to disseminate schematic maps.…”

A Software Framework for the Automated Production of Schematic Maps

“…Some authors define schematic map as "an easy-to-follow diagrammatic representation based on highly generalized lines which is in general used for showing routes of transportation systems, such as subways, trams and buses, or for any scenario in which streams of objects at nodes in a network play a role" [4]. One remarkable schematic map applied to a transportation network was the Harry Beck's London Underground diagram.…”

Simultaneous Visualization of Different Utility Networks for Disaster Management

“…Through directional restrictions, objects of equal angular peculiarity are cognitively grouped; the visualization appears ordered and structured. The Comparable approaches can be found in the design of metro plans, presented by (Avelar and Hurni, 2006;Cabello and de Berg, 2005). However, the design rules for metro lines are not fully applicable to multiple utility networks because a) pipes or lines of two or more networks must not share the same direction and b) they must not share any start, end or intermediate node, in contrast to metro lines.…”