World's first diagrammatic map London Underground had more or less cluttered geographic Tube maps until Henry C. Beck (also known as Harry Beck) developed the diagrammatic map in 1933 [1]. Beck's thoroughly composed map design combines the clarity of straight lines with the use of basic colours. Berlin came up with a diagrammatic suburban rail map at about the same time.



Source: map (jpg), © tfl.gov.uk

London's modern map The latest descendant of Harry Beck's classic. Though lines have altered since, style and usability remain almost unchanged.



Source: map (gif), © 2011 tfl.gov.uk

Moscow's circular beauty In the Moscow map, the circular line and the angles of the other lines are contrasting nicely as the Koltsevaya line strikingly breaks with the 45� rule. All metro systems with ring lines should consider doing this in their maps (at least when the geography allows it, unlike the complicated, elongated circle in London). The only other known example is Nagoya's map with an ovoid depiction of its circle line.



Source: map (html), © 2012 mosmetro.ru

Oslo's distorted circle Oslo's map and many others could look as excellent as Moscow's if the circle line wasn't forcefully pressed into the 45� scheme. Map designers should be more courageous when it comes to circle lines.



Source: map (pdf), © 2010 tbanen.no

Montreal's black design The diagram with the black background certainly looks elegant, but everybody who wants to print it at home will probably hate the waste of ink.



Source: map (pdf), © 2011 stm.info

Madrid's ephemeral rectangular diagram For no apparent reason, Madrid came up with a rectangular map in 2011. It proves that using only 90� angles is rather confusing and does not really enhance usability. After many protests, it was soon replaced with a version similar to the formerly used 45� map styles.



Source: map (pdf), © 2013 metromadrid.es

New York's resistance to the diagram New York is the world's only major metro system currently without a diagrammatic map. Official maps have been diagrammatic from 1958 but switched back to freestyle in 1979 [3]. The current map is rich in geographic details yet not to scale. Critical voices are becoming louder recently and several suggestions have been made for diagrammatic maps.



Source: map (html), © 2011 mta.info