THE iconic London Underground (LU) map is known the world over. For nearly 80 years it has been the starting point for many trips around London and has influenced metro maps in cities from New York to Tokyo. Designed in 1931 by Harry Beck, an engineering draftsman who worked for LU in the signals office, the map sought to simplify the layout of the lines, and thus of London itself. To achieve this, the busy central section was enlarged to make it easier to fit in the many lines and interchanges, while in the outer areas the stations were equally spaced, which had the effect of shortening the longer extremities of the lines. All lines were straightened, so that the map consists entirely of horizontal, vertical or diagonal lines.

The cost of this simplicity is geographical accuracy. For example, a journey from Queensway station to Bayswater station is an eight-minute trip involving one change, using the official journey planner, when in reality it is a 200m walk along one street. Zhan Guo of New York University has calculated that the map can cause as many as 30% of passengers to take a longer route than needed.

Now Mark Noad, a designer from London, has created a new version. Keeping to many of Beck's design ideas but amending them slightly, he has created a more geographically accurate representation of the Underground system, while still retaining much of the clarity of Beck's original diagram. Removing some of the enlargement of the central area does make this part of the map more difficult to read. It does, however give a better idea of which stations are close to each other, allowing the user to judge more easily the best route to take between stations. Mr Noad suggests that his version be used in conjunction with, rather than instead of, the original.