Transit Maps of the World
by Mark Ovenden
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Book Reviews of Transit Maps of the World
Book Review: Finally - the search is over!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are a fan of maps, subway culture, city life, and mass transit (these things tend to hang together, I suspect), then this book is it! Jackpot! I have been searching for a book with this breadth and depth for nearly a decade, ever since I read the incomparable "Subway City" by Michael W. Brooks. Trust me, if you think diagrams, logos, and maps can be beautiful AND thought-provoking, then know that this is THE book to get.
Let me add a few other thoughts in addition to what other reviewers have already said. First, this book is a good example of why books still matter... that is, I have been searching the Internet for years collecting jpegs and pdf files of the various transit systems of the world; I've ordered transit maps and guides from various cities on ebay... BUT, here is all of it in one place! In this sense, the authors have provided a great service by bringing order to a chaotic jumble of information on the Internet.
The other piece I'll add is that this book (as all good books should be) is a mind-opener. As I've said, I've been interested in this very subject for years, but I never imagined there were THIS MANY subway systems in the world! Wow! How could I have known - I didn't have this book!
Book Review: Transit Maps of the World
Summary: 5 Stars
An excellent and perhaps, unique look at maps of the subway and mass transit systems of over 200 cities, large and small from around the world. The transit systems range from the large complex systems of London and New York, to the smaller basic systems of Genoa and Detroit.
The book covers both the general development of transit map as the evolved from complex geographical accurate renditions of reality to the simplified, easy to read diagram like maps in common use today. The book also looks at the evolution of a number of specific city maps, including London, Berlin, Moscow and Chicago, among others. The last section of the book covers over a hundred of the smaller transit lines, including a number of proposed systems and expansions.
This book should be of special interest to transit fans, as well as those interested in maps or graphic design.
Book Review: Transit Maps of the World
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the best and most detailed books about the world's metro/subway systems. Compares and contrasts the different systems and shows how they are presented to the public in picture format. This book contains dozens of detailed pictures illustrating how metro systems distort their maps for the sake of clarity and also how their transit maps change in design over the decades.
One challenge faced by transit map designers is how much secondary information to include, such as rivers, parks, main roads, connecting bus links, handicap accessibility, other rail lines and proximity to local landmarks. Transit Maps of the World presents these issues to us showing how individual transit map designers have to consider which information to exclude to make their maps easy to read.
Book Review: An essential reference for urban rail enthusiasts
Summary: 5 Stars
"Transit maps of the world" by Mark Ovenden.
This unique atlas contains at least one map of every urban "mass transit" system in the world. That includes heavy rail (subways/metros), light rail, elevated rail, monorail, and even some streetcars, trams and trolleys. Suburban/commuter rail is included only for a few large cities that have no subways.
Most of the maps come from official sources. For the more important networks there are both modern and historical maps. For each city there is a broad description of the network and the metropolitan area served. But the emphasis is as much on the widely varying designs of the maps as on the transit systems that they represent. Most are diagrammatic, using straight lines rather than geographically scaled curves.
Book Review: Dream fulfilled!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book fulfills one of my top dreams -- to be more exact, I could not have dreamed of such a book! Reading maps and riding subways have been two of my favorite hobbies, and it is definitely awesome to see more than 200 cities' urban transit maps juxtaposed and compared in one book. Even better, the author gives detailed introduction to the history and includes many interesting anecdotes of those storied urban transit systems such as Berlin, Chicago, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris, and Tokyo. I use this book to remind my boy about the cities and places we ever visited, and teach him how to use a transit map to quickly find a route to any destination. We have been enjoying it so far, and I believe lots of fun will continue to flow out from it.