The Tube map has become an iconic symbol of London, with its design principles inspiring metro and transit maps around the world – but a map showing the world’s biggest cities has caused a stir online
Since Henry Beck first created the Tube map in 1933, this logical diagram has become a symbol of London. Indeed, many cities worldwide with metro and transit systems still draw inspiration from Beck’s design principles.
London’s Tube map is so iconic that numerous other versions have emerged over the years, from maps predicting the future to those translated into Welsh. There are maps indicating the best places to eat at each station and maps revealing hidden animal patterns.
There’s even a map of the human body styled like the Tube map and one showing what the Tube Map would look like if it was skewed towards South London instead of North London. It’s clear there are plenty of maps out there, but few have sparked as much online controversy as the contentious Tube Map of the world, designed by Mark Ovenden to accompany his book Transit Maps of the World.
This rail enthusiast’s map closely mirrors the London Underground, featuring all the same lines and colours, as well as the distorted shaping of land to ensure all stations appear relatively equally spaced. At one point trending on Twitter, predominantly with negative comments, the reposting of the map failed to mention that it did not actually depict physical lines or connections like the conventional Tube map.
This map, created purely for illustrative purposes and not intended as a navigation aid, simply plots each global city that operates an Underground or Metro-style system. Map creator Mark Ovenden tweeted: “Cheers to the ‘master of satire’ for tweeting my map. It was a playful way to illustrate the cities with Metro-type transit systems for my book on the subject.”
Spanning from Vancouver to Auckland and Buenos Aires to Tokyo, the map demonstrates how extensively metro systems have expanded since their London origins nearly 160 years ago. The Piccadilly line commences in St Petersburg, mirroring Cockfosters, and even creates a Heathrow-style loop through South America, with Seattle serving as the Uxbridge equivalent.
The Metropolitan line extends all the way to Vancouver before reaching its terminus in Chongqing, China. The Central line’s Hainault loop sits between China and Japan, ending in Boston, which represents America’s version of Ealing Broadway.
Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, takes the place of Stratford, whilst Bangalore serves as India’s equivalent to Vauxhall.
You can find out more details about Transit Maps of the World here.
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