Part of a series of articles on The Tube
Overview History Timeline Infrastructure Stations Trains Popular Culture Map London Transport portal

The Tube map is a schematic transit map representing the lines and stations of London's rapid transit railway systems, namely the London Underground (commonly known as the Tube, hence the name), the Docklands Light Railway, London Overground and the Emirates Air Line.

As a schematic diagram it shows not necessarily the geographic but rather the relative positions of stations along the lines, stations' connective relations with each other and fare zones. The basic design concepts have been widely adopted for other network maps around the world, especially that of mapping topologically rather than geographically.

History[link]

Early maps[link]

What is now a single network of lines controlled by a single organisation began as a collection of independent underground railway companies that constructed lines in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These companies published route maps of their own services but did not, generally, co-operate in advertising their services collectively. Early maps were based on standard geographic city maps indicating the directions of lines and locations of station, overlaid on geographic features and main roads.

The first combined map was published in 1908 by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) in conjunction with four other underground railway companies using the "Underground" brand as part of a common advertising initiative.^[1]

Tube map of 1908

The map showed eight lines – four operated by the UERL and one from each of the other four companies:

• UERL lines:
  • Bakerloo tube – brown
  • Hampstead tube – grey
  • Piccadilly tube – yellow
  • Metropolitan District Railway – green
• Other lines:
  • Central London Railway – blue
  • City and South London Railway – black
  • Great Northern and City Railway – orange
  • Metropolitan Railway – red

Being geographically-based presented restrictions in this early map; to enable sufficient clarity of detail in the crowded central area of the map, the extremities of the District and Metropolitan lines were omitted, so a full network diagram was not provided. The problem of truncation remained for nearly half a century. Although all of the western branches of the District and Piccadilly lines were included for the first time in 1933 with Harry Beck's first map, the portion of the Metropolitan line beyond Rickmansworth did not appear until 1938 and the eastern end of the District line did not appear on the map until the mid-1950s.

The route map continued to be developed and was issued in various formats and artistic styles until 1920, when, for the first time, the geographic background detail was omitted in a map designed by MacDonald Gill.^[2] This freed the design to enable greater flexibility in the positioning of lines and stations. The routes became more stylised but the arrangement remained, largely, geographic in nature. The 1932 edition was the last geographic map to be published, before the diagrammatic map was introduced.

Beck's maps[link]

File:TubeMapZ1 TFL.png Schematic design of zone 1 of the Tube map. Locations of stations are not geographically accurate. Unofficial map of zone 1, showing more correct geographic locations of the stations.

The first diagrammatic map of London's rapid transit network was designed by Harry Beck in 1931.^[3] Beck was a London Underground employee who realised that because the railway ran mostly underground, the physical locations of the stations were irrelevant to the traveller wanting to know how to get to one station from another — only the topology of the railway mattered. This approach is similar to that of electrical circuit diagrams; while these were not the inspiration for Beck's maps, his colleagues pointed out the similarities and he once produced a joke map with the stations replaced by electrical circuit symbols and names, with terminology such as "bakelite" for the Bakerloo line.^[4]

To this end, Beck devised a simplified map, consisting of stations, straight line segments connecting them, and the River Thames; lines ran only vertically, horizontally, or on 45 degree diagonals. To make the map clearer and to emphasise connections, Beck differentiated between ordinary stations (marked just with tick marks) and interchange stations (marked with diamonds). London Underground was initially sceptical of his proposal — it was an uncommissioned spare-time project, and it was tentatively introduced to the public in a small pamphlet in 1933. It immediately became popular, and the Underground has used topological maps to illustrate the network ever since.

Despite the complexity of making the map, Beck was paid just five guineas for the work.^{[citation needed]} After its initial success, he continued to design the Underground map until 1960, a single (and unpopular) 1939 edition by Hans Scheger being the exception.^[5] During this time, as well as accommodating new lines and stations, Beck continually altered the design, for example changing the interchange symbol from a diamond to a circle, as well as altering the line colours – the Central line from orange to red, and the Bakerloo line from red to brown. Beck's final design, in 1960, bears a strong resemblance to the modern-day map. Beck lived in Finchley and one of his maps is still preserved on the southbound platform at Finchley Central station on the Northern line.^[6]

After Beck[link]

By 1960, Beck had fallen out with the Underground's publicity officer, Harold Hutchison. Hutchison, though not a designer himself, drafted his own version of the Tube map that year. It removed the smoothed corners of Beck's design and created some highly cramped areas (most notably, around Liverpool Street station); in addition, lines were generally less straight.^[7] However, Hutchison also introduced interchange symbols (circles for Underground-only, squares for connections with British Rail) that were black and allowed multiple lines through them, as opposed to Beck who used one circle for each line at an interchange, coloured according to the corresponding line.

In 1964, the design of the map was taken over by Paul Garbutt who, like Beck, had produced a map in his spare time due to his dislike of the Hutchison design. Garbutt's map restored curves and bends to the diagram, but retained Hutchison's black interchange circles (the squares however were replaced with circles with a dot inside). Garbutt continued to produce Underground maps for at least another twenty years — Tube maps stopped bearing the designer's name in 1986, by which time the elements of the map bore a very strong resemblance to today's map.^[8] Today, the Tube map bears the legend, "This diagram is an evolution of the original design conceived in 1931 by Harry Beck" in the lower right-hand corner.

While the standard Tube map mostly avoided representing mainline rail services, a new variant of the map issued in 1973, the 'London's Railways' map, was the first to depict Tube and surface rail services in a diagrammatic style closely matched to Beck's designs. This version was created by Tim Demuth of the London Transport publicity office and was jointly sponsored by British Rail and London Transport. Demuth's map did not replace the standard Tube map but continued to be published as a supplementary resource, later known as the 'London Connections' map.^[9]

Some alterations have been made to the map over the years. More recent designs have incorporated changes to the network, such as the Docklands Light Railway and the extension of the Jubilee line. It also includes major rail lines used for journeys within London, such as London Overground routes, and Tube stops with connections to National Rail services, rail links to airports, and river boats. Stations that can be walked between are now shown, often with the distance between them (this is an evolution of the pedestrian route between Bank and Monument stations, which was once prominently marked on the map). Further, step-free access notations are also incorporated in the map.

In addition, since 2002 the fare zones have been added, to better help passengers judge the cost of a journey. Nevertheless the map remains true to Beck's original scheme, and many other transport systems use schematic maps to represent their services, likely inspired by Beck.

Despite there having been many versions over the years, somehow the perception of many users is that the current map actually is, more or less, Beck's original version from the 1930s — a testament to the effectiveness of his design. Beck did actually draw versions with other formats, 22½ degrees rather than 45 (the Paris Métro version uses 22½ degrees as a base); and an unused version for the 1948 Olympic Games.

One of the major changes to be made to the revision of the Tube map put out in September 2009 was the removal of the River Thames. Although historically the river was not present on several official maps (for example, according to David Leboff and Tim Demuth's book; in 1907, 1908, and 1919), from 1921 it was absent for several years (on pocket maps designed by MacDonald Gill). The Thames-free 2009 version was the first time that the river has not appeared on the Tube map since the Stringemore pocket map of 1926. This latest removal resulted in widespread international media attention,^[10][11] and general disapproval from most Londoners as well as from mayor Boris Johnson.^[12] Based on this reaction, the following edition of the diagram in December 2009 reinstated both the river and fare zones.

Technical aspects[link]

The designers of the map have tackled a variety of problems in showing information as clearly as possible and have sometimes adopted different solutions.

The font for the map, including station names, is Johnston, which uses perfect circles for the letter 'O'.

Line colours[link]

The table below shows the changing use of colours since Beck's first map. The current colours are taken from Transport for London's colour standards guide,^[13] which defines the precise colours from the Pantone palette, and also a colour naming scheme that is particular to TfL. Earlier maps were limited by the number of colours available that could be clearly distinguished in print. Improvements in colour printing technology have reduced this problem and the map has coped with the identification of new lines without great difficulty.

A dashed line indicates limited service, under construction or closed for renovation.

It has not been announced how the Crossrail service will be depicted on the tube map when the service opens in 2018. It may be a double stripe in purple or in grey.^{[citation needed]}

Station marks[link]

An important symbol that Beck introduced was the 'tick' mark to indicate stations. This allowed stations to be placed closer together while preserving clarity, because the tick was only on the side of the line nearer the station name (ideally centrally placed, though the arrangement of lines did not always allow this).

From the start, interchange stations were given a special mark to indicate their importance, though its shape has changed over the years. In addition, from 1960, marks were used to identify stations that offered connections with British Railways (now National Rail). The following shapes have been used:

• Circle (one for each line or station, where convenient) – standard default mark
• Circle (one for each station) – 1938 experimental map
• Diamond (one for each line) – early 1930s
• Square – interchange with British Railways, 1960–1964
• Circle with a dot inside – interchange with British Rail, 1964–1970

Since 1970 the map has used a reversed (red on white) British Rail "double arrow" beside the station name to indicate mainline interchanges. Where the mainline station has a different name from the Underground station that it connects with, since 1977 this has been shown in a box. The distance between the Tube station and the mainline station is now shown.

Contemporary maps have marked stations offering step-free access suitable for wheelchair users with a blue circle containing a wheelchair symbol in white.

Tube stations with links to airports (Heathrow terminals 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 for London Heathrow, and the DLR station at London City) are shown with a black aeroplane symbol.

Since 2000, stations with a nearby interchange to river bus piers on the Thames have been marked with a small boat symbol to promote London River Services.

When Eurostar services used Waterloo International, the Eurostar logo was shown next to Waterloo station. On 14 November 2007, these services were transferred to St. Pancras International, and thus King's Cross St. Pancras tube station now bears the text "for St. Pancras International", although it does not show the Eurostar logo.

Some interchanges are more convenient than others and the map designers have often rearranged the layout of the map to try to indicate where the interchanges are more awkward, such as by making the interchange circles further apart and linking them with thin black lines. Sometimes the need for simplicity overrides this goal: the Bakerloo/Northern lines interchange at Charing Cross is not particularly convenient and passengers may be better off changing at Embankment, but the need to simplify the inner-London area means that the map seems to indicate that Charing Cross is the easier interchange.

Lines or services[link]

The Tube map aims to make the complicated network of services easy to understand, but it is not possible to have complete information about the services that operate on each line.

Limited-service routes have sometimes been identified with hatched lines, with some complications added to the map to show where peak-only services ran through to branches, such as that to Chesham on the Metropolitan line. The number of routes with a limited service has declined in recent years as patronage recovered from its early-1980s low point. As there are now fewer restrictions to show, the remaining ones are now mainly indicated in the accompanying text rather than by special line markings.

Official versions of the Tube map[link]

The Tube map exists to help passengers navigate the London rapid transit network and it has been questioned whether it should play a wider role in helping people navigate London itself. The question has been raised as to whether mainline railways should be shown on the map, in particular those in inner-London. The Underground has largely resisted adding additional services to the standard Tube map, instead producing separate maps with different information, including:

• Standard Tube map: Shows all Underground, DLR and Overground lines and stations, and zone boundaries.
• Central London map: A cropped and enlarged version of the standard map showing only the central London area. Some versions show Thameslink and Northern City Line services.
• London Connections map: Produced by the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC), this provided the same information as TfL's Travelcard Zones map but extended further beyond Travelcard Zones 7–9. National Rail lines were emphasised by thicker lines and coloured according to their train operating company (TOC). This map was replaced by the Oyster Rail Services map.^[15]
• Oyster rail services in London: Issued in January 2010 to coincide with the introduction of Oyster card pay-as-you-go across National Rail services in London,^[16][17] this shows Underground, DLR, Tramlink, Overground, National Rail and fare zone boundaries. National Rail lines are shown in white with a thick outline coloured according to the mainline terminus station they serve. This replaces the Travelcard Zones map which had the same content except that National Rail lines were shown in white with a thin black outline.
• High Frequency Services map. The same as the Travelcard Zones map except that lines offering services at greater than 15-minute intervals are de-emphasised so that the more frequent routes can be seen easily.
• Step-free Tube Guide. Underground and DLR only. Indicates stations with full or partial step-free access, and level access suitable for wheelchair users.
• Tube Toilet Map. Underground and DLR only. Indicates stations with toilet facilities.
• Tube Bicycle map. Underground and DLR only. Shows sections of the network where bicycles are permitted in green.
• Real Time Disruption map. Underground, DLR and Overground only. Interactive web-based map with disrupted lines and stations highlighted, others in light grey.
• Interactive journey map. Underground, DLR and Overground only. Interactive web-based map that can be used to access information about each station (e.g. bus connections and disabled access).

Maps are produced in different sizes, the most common being Quad Royal (40 × 50 inches^[18]) poster size and Journey Planner pocket size. The maps showing all the National Rail routes provide useful additional information at the expense of considerably increased complexity, as they contain almost 700 stations.

Non-Underground lines on the standard tube map[link]

Some non-Underground lines have appeared on the standard tube map:

• On the early maps which used a geographic background, main line railways were shown as part of the background detail.
• Prior to its transfer to the London Underground in 1994, the Waterloo and City line was operated by British Rail and its mainline predecessors. The line began appearing on most tube maps, from the mid-1930s.
• For a short period in the late 1930s until 1940, the section of the West London Line linking Willesden Junction to the Metropolitan line's Middle Circle route at Uxbridge Road was shown as a service operated by the Great Western Railway and the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. The service was removed when the line closed to passengers in 1940.^[5]
• The North London Line was added to the map in 1977.^[19] While run by British Rail, and later by Silverlink, it was shown in British Rail/National Rail colours, although its appearance was intermittent, being omitted from some map editions over the years. In November 2007 it was taken over by London Overground and changed to an orange double stripe. The semi-orbital route originally ran from Richmond to Broad Street, then Richmond to North Woolwich; today the line runs from Richmond to Stratford.
• The West London Line, Watford DC Line and Gospel Oak-Barking line (former British Rail/Silverlink lines) were all added to the standard tube map in 2007 when they were taken over by London Overground, and all are shown as an orange double stripe.
• The Northern City Line appeared on the original 1908 map as the Great Northern and City Railway. It later appeared as the Great Northern and City section of the Metropolitan Railway and then, from the late 1930s as part of the Northern Line. The service was transferred to British Rail in 1976 and continued to appear until recently.
• Thameslink reopened in 1988, the line having been closed for many years. It offers some relief to the Northern Line, as it connects King's Cross St Pancras to London Bridge. Only the central sections between Kentish Town and London Bridge/Elephant & Castle were shown. Its appearance on Tube maps has been intermittent, having been omitted from some map editions over the years.
• The Docklands Light Railway, the automatic light-rail system in the London Docklands area.
• The Emirates Air Line, a cable-car linking Greenwich Peninsula and Royal Docks was added in December 2011.

Currently the only non-Underground lines shown are the Emirates Air-Line, the Docklands Light Railway and the London Overground.

When Transport for London expanded its London Overground service to include the East London Line in 2010, the East London line (extended to Croydon) changed from a solid orange line to a double orange stripe. According to 2007 proposals, the addition of the South London Line to London Overground was due to add the southern loop onto future tube maps in late 2010,^[20] but, as of August 2011, this has not yet happened.

Underground lines on geographically accurate maps[link]

Transport for London publish several bus maps that depict the approximate paths of tube routes relative to major streets and London bus routes.^[21] These maps also show locations of certain cultural attractions and geographic landmarks. Internet mapping services (e.g., Google Maps) offer a "Transit Layer" showing actual routes superimposed on the standard street map.

The website carto.metro offers extremely detailed maps showing individual tracks, platforms, yards, turning loops, abandoned lines, etc., in their geographical position.^[22]

Spin-offs and imitations[link]

The success of the tube map as a piece of information design has led to many imitations of its format. In 2002 Transport for London launched a series of London Buses "spider diagrams" to display at bus stops around the city, conveying bus route information in a schematic style similar to Beck's design,^[23] with straight lines and 45° angles depicting geographically distorted bus routes, coloured lines and numbers to differentiate services, and graphical markers to show bus stops. Tube and rail lines are not included, but interchanges are denoted with appropriate symbols by bus stop names, such as the Tube roundel. Unlike the traditional Tube map, the bus maps display services appropriate to specific transport hubs rather than a full network. Each map also contains a central rectangle of a simple, geographically accurate street map to display the positions of bus stops; outside this rectangle, the only geographic feature to appear on the bus maps is the River Thames. These maps are also available for electronic download, with map collections ordered by London borough.^[24] The bus maps were designed for TfL by the cartographic design company T-Kartor group.^[25]

An isochrone map of the network was made available in 2007.^[26]

In 2009, British Waterways produced their own map of London's waterways in a Tube-style diagrammatic map, depicting the River Thames, the various canals and subterranean rivers in the city.^[27]

The 'look' of the London Underground map (including 45 degree angles, evenly spaced 'stations', and some geographic distortion) has been emulated by many other subway systems around the world.^[28][29] While London Underground have been protective of their copyright they have also allowed their concepts to be shared with other transport operators (Amsterdam's GVB even pays tribute to them on their map).^[30]

In June 2011, British Designer Mark Noad unveiled his vision for a more 'geographically accurate' London Underground map.^[31] The map is an attempt to see if it is possible to create a geographically-accurate representation of the underground system while still retaining some of the clarity of Beck's original diagram. It uses similar principles, fixed line angles – in this case 30 and 60 degrees instead of 45 – and shortens the extremities of the lines to make it more compact.^[32]

Cultural references[link]

The design has become so widely known that it is now instantly recognisable as representing London. It has been featured on T-shirts, postcards, and other memorabilia. In 2006, the design came second in a televised search for the most well known British design icon.^[33] It is widely cited by academics and designers as a 'design classic'^{[34][35][36][37]} and it is due to these cultural associations that London Underground does not usually permit the design to be used or altered for any other purpose.^[38] This has only been officially sanctioned on a few occasions:

• David Booth's The Tate Gallery by Tube 1986 is one of a series of publicity posters for the Underground.^[39] His work showed the lines of the map squeezed out of tubes of paint and has since been used on the cover of the map itself.
• In Tate Modern hangs The Great Bear by Simon Patterson, a subtle parody of the contemporary map design, first displayed in 1992, in which the station names on the tube map have been replaced by those of famous figures.
• In 2003, to coincide with the publication of a book about tube maps from all over the world, the London Transport Museum released a "World Metro Map" poster strongly based on the London diagram and approved by TfL.
• Albus Dumbledore, a central character in the Harry Potter series has a scar just above his left knee that is in the shape of a Tube Map.
• In 2006, The Guardian published a design based on the tube map, purporting to show the relationships between musicians and musical genres in the 20th century.^[40]
• On 11 January 2007, Lord Adonis unveiled a depiction of the map featuring the names of successful schools and students at GCSE level as part of the London Student Awards 2007.
• The Royal Shakespeare Company produced a map in 2007 linking Shakespearean characters according to their traits in a diagram which resembles the map for complexity.

Stylistic aspects of the London diagram, such as the line colours and styles, the station ticks or interchange symbols, are also frequently used in advertising.

Animals on the Underground[link]

Animals on the Underground is a collection of over 20 animal characters depicted using only lines, stations and interchange symbols on the London Underground map, created by illustrator Paul Middlewick in 1987. In 2003, the concept was used in a poster campaign by advertising agency McCann-Erickson to promote the London Zoo.^[41] The pictures have also appeared on London Television and in press articles around the world including The Daily Mail, The Guardian and The Metro. The designs are a registered trademark, and as of 2009 Middlewick has depicted a total of 38 animals.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) ran a fund raising poster campaign on the London Underground in April 2008. The posters used the seal, elephant and whale images to raise awareness of seal hunting in Canada, the ivory trade and whale hunting respectively. The Animals have appeared many times in London's Metro newspaper. Animals on the Underground concept and images are copyright protected and uses the London Underground map, symbol and typeface under license.

In May 2010, a children's storybook was released that used the characters, titled "Lost Property". It is the story of an elephant called "Elephant & Castle" who loses his memory and is helped by Angel the angel fish. The book was illustrated by Middlewick, and written by Jon Sayers, and the official launch took place at the London Transport Museum.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

London Transport portal

• Dow, Andrew, Telling the Passenger where to get off (Capital Transport, London, 2005): ISBN 1-85414-291-7
• Garland, Ken, Mr Beck's Underground Map (Capital Transport, London, 1994): ISBN 1-85414-168-6
• Leboff, David and Demuth, Tim, No Need to Ask! (Capital Transport, London, 1999): ISBN 1-85414-215-1
• Ovenden, Mark, Metro Maps Of The World (Capital Transport, London, 2005): ISBN 1-85414-288-7
• Ovenden, Mark, Transit Maps of the World (Penguin Books, New York, 2007): ISBN 0-14-311265-1
• Roberts, Maxwell, Underground Maps After Beck (Capital Transport, London, 2003): ISBN 1-85414-286-0
• Rose, Douglas, The London Underground: A Diagrammatic History (Capital Transport, London, 2005): ISBN 1-85414-219-4

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: London Underground maps

• Tube maps from TfL
• National Rail maps including London Connections
• Trivia, history and facts on the London Underground Tube map contains more history on the tube map plus alternative designs of the map from Dr Who Conventions, and Simon Patterson's The Great Bear
• Interactive animated journey time map
• www.mylookout.net/maps/londonTube/ – Satellite Image Tube Map uses Google maps to find tube stations by zone and/or lines
• London quickmap mapmovies – all kinds of variations on tube maps
• A history of the London Tube Maps – complete history of the evolution of the map
• London Transport Underground Maps – illustrations of almost every tube map issued
• The London Tube Map Archive has a collection of tube maps, showing the growth of the system and the changes in the style of the map
• Robert Reynolds Subway Page – links and photos of most world subway system maps, many of which use Beck-inspired design principles
• Zoomable Tube and Rail Map
• H2G2 article on the tube map
• Animation showing how today's map morphs into a geographical map and Beck's original map
• Mark Noad's Underground diagram
• Animals on the Underground website

Look up tube in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Tube, or Tubes, may refer to:

Construction

• Tube (structure), used in structural applications
• Hollow structural section, used in structural applications
• Tube (fluid conveyance), used in plumbing, irrigation, and other applications

Electronics

• Vacuum tube, a component of electronics
• Cathode ray tube (also called picture tube), a common component of electronics such as televisions and other displays
• Tube (BBC Micro), an expansion bus on the BBC Micro computer

Food

• Yoplait Tubes, the name for Go-Gurt portable yog(o)urt in every country except America and the United Kingdom

Geometry

• A hollow cylinder (geometry)

Mechanics

• Pneumatic tube, a method of transportation utilising compressed air
• Inner tube, a component of vehicular tires

Media

• The Tube (TV series), a music related TV series by Channel 4 in the United Kingdom
• Tube (band), a Japanese pop group
• Tube (film), a 2003 Korean film
• Tube (2012 film), an open computer animated short film
• Tube (game), a freeware game from Bullfrog Productions
• Tube & Berger, the alias of dance/electronica producers Arndt Rörig and Marco Vidovic from Germany
• YouTube, a website that allows users to upload, view, and share video clips
• Peter Dale, aka Tubes from the Soccer AM television show
• Series of tubes, an Internet meme and analogy for the Internet used by United States Senator Ted Stevens in reference to net neutrality
• Picture tube, a term used by the software package Paint Shop Pro for a small digital image with no background used on web pages
• a colloquial term for television
• The Tube Music Network, a music video network that operated between 2006 and 2007

Music

• The Tubes, a San Francisco based band, popular in the 1970s and 1980s

Nature

• Eustachian tube, part of the structure of the ear
• Lava tube, found in volcanic regions
• The inside of a hollow wave in surfing

Packaging

• Tube (container), a packaging solution for pasty and viscous goods such as toothpaste

Photography

• Extension tube, a tool for macro photography

Theatre

• Blue Man Group's theatrical show, "TUBES", now called "Rewired"

Science

• Test tube, a piece of laboratory equipment

Transportation

• Rapid transit
• London Underground, London's subterranean train system, commonly known as The Tube
• Transbay Tube, an underwater rail tube across San Francisco Bay
• Tube or inner tube, see Tubing (recreation)

See also[link]

• The Tube (disambiguation)
• Microtube (disambiguation)
• Nanotube (disambiguation)
• Pipe
• Tub (disambiguation)
• Tubing (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes.

Many maps are static two-dimensional, geometrically accurate (or approximately accurate) representations of three-dimensional space, while others are dynamic or interactive, even three-dimensional. Although most commonly used to depict geography, maps may represent any space, real or imagined, without regard to context or scale; e.g. brain mapping, DNA mapping, and extraterrestrial mapping.

Geographic maps[link]

A celestial map from the 17th century, by the Dutch cartographer Frederik de Wit.

Cartography or map-making is the study and practice of crafting representations of the Earth upon a flat surface (see History of cartography), and one who makes maps is called a cartographer.

Road maps are perhaps the most widely used maps today, and form a subset of navigational maps, which also include aeronautical and nautical charts, railroad network maps, and hiking and bicycling maps. In terms of quantity, the largest number of drawn map sheets is probably made up by local surveys, carried out by municipalities, utilities, tax assessors, emergency services providers, and other local agencies. Many national surveying projects have been carried out by the military, such as the British Ordnance Survey (now a civilian government agency internationally renowned for its comprehensively detailed work).

In addition to location information maps may also be used to portray contour lines indicating constant values of elevation, temperature, rainfall, etc.

Orientation of maps[link]

The Hereford Mappa Mundi, about 1300, Hereford Cathedral, England. A classic "T-O" map with Jerusalem at centre, east toward the top, Europe the bottom left and Africa on the right.

The orientation of a map is the relationship between the directions on the map and the corresponding compass directions in reality. The word "orient" is derived from Latin oriens, meaning East. In the Middle Ages many maps, including the T and O maps, were drawn with East at the top (meaning that the direction "up" on the map corresponds to East on the compass). Today, the most common – but far from universal – cartographic convention is that North is at the top of a map. Several kinds of maps are often traditionally not oriented with North at the top:

• Maps from non-Western traditions are oriented a variety of ways. Old maps of Edo show the Japanese imperial palace as the "top", but also at the centre, of the map. Labels on the map are oriented in such a way that you cannot read them properly unless you put the imperial palace above your head.^{[citation needed]}
• Medieval European T and O maps such as the Hereford Mappa Mundi were centred on Jerusalem with East at the top. Indeed, prior to the reintroduction of Ptolemy's Geography to Europe around 1400, there was no single convention in the West. Portolan charts, for example, are oriented to the shores they describe.
• Maps of cities bordering a sea are often conventionally oriented with the sea at the top.
• Route and channel maps have traditionally been oriented to the road or waterway they describe.
• Polar maps of the Arctic or Antarctic regions are conventionally centred on the pole; the direction North would be towards or away from the centre of the map, respectively. Typical maps of the Arctic have 0° meridian towards the bottom of the page; maps of the Antarctic have the 0° meridian towards the top of the page.
• Reversed maps, also known as Upside-Down maps or South-Up maps, reverse the "North is up" convention and have South at the top.
• Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion maps are based on a projection of the Earth's sphere onto an icosahedron. The resulting triangular pieces may be arranged in any order or orientation.
• Modern digital GIS maps such as ArcMap typically project north at the top of the map, but use math degrees (0 is east, degrees increase counter-clockwise), rather than compass degrees (0 is north, degrees increase clockwise) for orientation of transects. Compass decimal degrees can be converted to math degrees by subtracting them from 450; if the answer is greater than 360, subtract 360.

Scale and accuracy[link]

A 'global view map' of Europe, Western Asia and Africa.

Many, but not all, maps are drawn to a scale, expressed as a ratio such as 1:10,000, meaning that 1 of any unit of measurement on the map corresponds exactly, or approximately, to 10,000 of that same unit on the ground. The scale statement may be taken as exact when the region mapped is small enough for the curvature of the Earth to be neglected, for example in a town planner's city map. Over larger regions where the curvature cannot be ignored we must use map projections from the curved surface of the Earth (sphere or ellipsoid) to the plane. The impossibility of flattening the sphere to the plane implies that no map projection can have constant scale: on most projections the best we can achieve is accurate scale on one or two lines (not necessarily straight) on the projection. Thus for map projections we must introduce the concept of point scale, which is a function of position, and strive to keep its variation within narrow bounds. Although the scale statement is nominal it is usually accurate enough for all but the most precise of measurements.

Large scale maps, say 1:10,000, cover relatively small regions in great detail and small scale maps, say 1:10,000,000, cover large regions such as nations, continents and the whole globe. The large/small terminology arose from the practice of writing scales as numerical fractions: 1/10,000 is larger than 1/10,000,000. There is no exact dividing line between large and small but 1/100,000 might well be considered as a medium scale. Examples of large scale maps are the 1:25,000 maps produced for hikers; on the other hand maps intended for motorists at 1:250,000 or 1:1,000,000 are small scale.

It is important to recognise that even the most accurate maps sacrifice a certain amount of accuracy in scale to deliver a greater visual usefulness to its user. For example, the width of roads and small streams are exaggerated when they are too narrow to be shown on the map at true scale; that is, on a printed map they would be narrower than could be perceived by the naked eye. The same applies to computer maps where the smallest unit is the pixel. A narrow stream say must be shown to have the width of a pixel even if at the map scale it would be a small fraction of the pixel width.

Cartogram: The EU distorted to show population distributions.

Some maps, called cartograms, have the scale deliberately distorted to reflect information other than land area or distance. For example, this map of Europe has been distorted to show population distribution, while the rough shape of the continent is still discernable.

Another example of distorted scale is the famous London Underground map. The basic geographical structure is respected but the tube lines (and the River Thames) are smoothed to clarify the relationships between stations. Near the center of the map stations are spaced out more than near the edges of map.

Further inaccuracies may be deliberate. For example, cartographers may simply omit military installations or remove features solely in order to enhance the clarity of the map. For example, a road map may not show railroads, smaller waterways or other prominent non-road objects, and even if it does, it may show them less clearly (e.g. dashed or dotted lines/outlines) than the main roads. Known as decluttering, the practice makes the subject matter that the user is interested in easier to read, usually without sacrificing overall accuracy. Software-based maps often allow the user to toggle decluttering between ON, OFF and AUTO as needed. In AUTO the degree of decluttering is adjusted as the user changes the scale being displayed.

Map types and projections[link]

Map of large underwater features. (1995, NOAA)

Maps of the world or large areas are often either 'political' or 'physical'. The most important purpose of the political map is to show territorial borders; the purpose of the physical is to show features of geography such as mountains, soil type or land use including infrastruction such as roads, railroads and buildings. Topographic maps show elevations and relief with contour lines or shading. Geological maps show not only the physical surface, but characteristics of the underlying rock, fault lines, and subsurface structures.

Maps that depict the surface of the Earth also use a projection, a way of translating the three-dimensional real surface of the geoid to a two-dimensional picture. Perhaps the best-known world-map projection is the Mercator projection, originally designed as a form of nautical chart.

Aeroplane pilots use aeronautical charts based on a Lambert conformal conic projection, in which a cone is laid over the section of the earth to be mapped. The cone intersects the sphere (the earth) at one or two parallels which are chosen as standard lines. This allows the pilots to plot a great-circle route approximation on a flat, two-dimensional chart.

• Azimuthal or Gnomonic map projections are often used in planning air routes due to their ability to represent great circles as straight lines.
• Richard Edes Harrison produced a striking series of maps during and after World War II for Fortune magazine. These used "bird's eye" projections to emphasise globally strategic "fronts" in the air age, pointing out proximities and barriers not apparent on a conventional rectangular projection of the world.

Electronic maps[link]

A USGS digital raster graphic.

From the last quarter of the 20th century, the indispensable tool of the cartographer has been the computer. Much of cartography, especially at the data-gathering survey level, has been subsumed by Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The functionality of maps has been greatly advanced by technology simplifying the superimposition of spatially located variables onto existing geographical maps. Having local information such as rainfall level, distribution of wildlife, or demographic data integrated within the map allows more efficient analysis and better decision making. In the pre-electronic age such superimposition of data led Dr. John Snow to discover the cause of cholera. Today, it is used by agencies of the human kind, as diverse as wildlife conservationists and militaries around the world.

Relief map Sierra Nevada

Even when GIS is not involved, most cartographers now use a variety of computer graphics programs to generate new maps.

Interactive, computerised maps are commercially available, allowing users to zoom in or zoom out (respectively meaning to increase or decrease the scale), sometimes by replacing one map with another of different scale, centered where possible on the same point. In-car global navigation satellite systems are computerised maps with route-planning and advice facilities which monitor the user's position with the help of satellites. From the computer scientist's point of view, zooming in entails one or a combination of:

1. replacing the map by a more detailed one
2. enlarging the same map without enlarging the pixels, hence showing more detail by removing less information compared to the less detailed version
3. enlarging the same map with the pixels enlarged (replaced by rectangles of pixels); no additional detail is shown, but, depending on the quality of one's vision, possibly more detail can be seen; if a computer display does not show adjacent pixels really separate, but overlapping instead (this does not apply for an LCD, but may apply for a cathode ray tube), then replacing a pixel by a rectangle of pixels does show more detail. A variation of this method is interpolation.

File:World.pdf

For example:

• Typically (2) applies to a Portable Document Format (PDF) file or other format based on vector graphics. The increase in detail is, of course, limited to the information contained in the file: enlargement of a curve may eventually result in a series of standard geometric figures such as straight lines, arcs of circles or splines.
• (2) may apply to text and (3) to the outline of a map feature such as a forest or building.
• (1) may apply to the text as needed (displaying labels for more features), while (2) applies to the rest of the image. Text is not necessarily enlarged when zooming in. Similarly, a road represented by a double line may or may not become wider when one zooms in.
• The map may also have layers which are partly raster graphics and partly vector graphics. For a single raster graphics image (2) applies until the pixels in the image file correspond to the pixels of the display, thereafter (3) applies.

See also: Webpage (Graphics), PDF (Layers), MapQuest, Google Maps, Google Earth, OpenStreetMap or Yahoo! Maps.

Conventional signs[link]

The various features shown on a map are represented by conventional signs or symbols. For example, colors can be used to indicate a classification of roads. Those signs are usually explained in the margin of the map, or on a separately published characteristic sheet.^[1]

Some cartographers prefer to make the map cover practically the entire screen or sheet of paper, leaving no room "outside" the map for information about the map as a whole. These cartographers typically place such information in an otherwise "blank" region "inside" the map -- cartouche, map legend, title, compass rose, bar scale, etc. In particular, some maps contain smaller "sub-maps" in otherwise blank regions—often one at a much smaller scale showing the whole globe and where the whole map fits on that globe, and a few showing "regions of interest" at a larger scale in order to show details that wouldn't otherwise fit. Occasionally sub-maps use the same scale as the large map—a few maps of the contiguous United States include a sub-map to the same scale for each of the two non-contiguous states.

Labeling[link]

To communicate spatial information effectively, features such as rivers, lakes, and cities need to be labeled. Over centuries cartographers have developed the art of placing names on even the densest of maps. Text placement or name placement can get mathematically very complex as the number of labels and map density increases. Therefore, text placement is time-consuming and labor-intensive, so cartographers and GIS users have developed automatic label placement to ease this process.^[2][3]

Non geographical spatial maps[link]

Maps exist of the solar system, and other cosmological features such as star maps. In addition maps of other bodies such as the Moon and other planets are technically not geological maps.

Non spatial maps[link]

Diagrams such as schematic diagrams and Gantt charts and treemaps display logical relationships between items, and do not display spatial relationships at all.

Some maps, for example the London Underground map, are topological maps. Topological in nature, the distances are completely unimportant; only the connectivity is significant.

See also[link]

Atlas portal

General

• Atlas
• Automatic label placement
• Cartography
• Counter-mapping
• Geography
• Globe
• Map–territory relation

Map design and types

Modern maps

• Censorship of maps
• Google Maps
• Japanese map symbols
• List of online map services
• MapQuest
• Maps of the UK and Ireland
• Map of the United States
• NASA World Wind
• Orthophotomap - A map created from Orthophotography
• ABmaps
• Intermap Technologies
• Engels Maps
• Ordnance Survey Maps

http://www.terralibrary.com/

Map history

• Early world maps
• George Bradshaw, including maps of the British railway network, first published in 1839
• History of cartography
• List of cartographers
• Ordnance Survey UK map agency
• Sanborn Maps - detailed American fire insurance maps

Related topics

• Aerial landscape art
• Aerial photography
• Automatic label placement
• Digital geologic mapping
• Geographic coordinate system
• Geography Cup
• Index map
• Map database management
• National Mine Map Repository
• Global Map

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• David Buisseret, ed., Monarchs, Ministers and Maps: The Emergence of Cartography as a Tool of Government in Early Modern Europe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992, ISBN 0-226-07987-2
• Denis E. Cosgrove (ed.) Mappings. Reaktion Books, 1999 ISBN 1-86189-021-4
• Freeman, Herbert, Automated Cartographic Text Placement. White paper.
• Ahn, J. and Freeman, H., “A program for automatic name placement,” Proc. AUTO-CARTO 6, Ottawa, 1983. 444-455.
• Freeman, H., “Computer Name Placement,” ch. 29, in Geographical Information Systems, 1, D.J. Maguire, M.F. Goodchild, and D.W. Rhind, John Wiley, New York, 1991, 449-460.
• Mark Monmonier, How to Lie with Maps, ISBN 0-226-53421-9
• O'Connor, J.J. and E.F. Robertson, The History of Cartography. Scotland : St. Andrews University, 2002.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Maps

• Geography and Maps, an Illustrated Guide, by the staff of the U.S. Library of Congress.
• Historical Maps from the Hargrett Library Collection (University of Georgia) - browse over 1000 maps from as early as 1544. DjVu format; requires free plugin or JAVA
• The History of Cartography Project at the University of Wisconsin, a comprehensive research project in the history of maps and mapping
• Mapping History Project - University of Oregon
• Mapping the World The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division at The New York Public Library
• Online map collections at the Library of Congress
• John H.W. Stuckenberg Map Digital Collection at Gettysburg College
• Journal of Maps