Transit Maps of the World (Paperback)

by Mark Ovenden (Author), Mike Ashworth (Editor) "U Urban-transit maps echo the prevailing social and political trends of the societies they emanate from, but Berlin's U-Bahn and S-Bahn maps perhaps more than..." (more)
Key Phrases: geographic distortion, station markers, percent underground, Red Line, New York, United Kingdom (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Ovenden does what no other design history book has ever done. Transit Maps of the World is a must-have"
—The New York Times Book Review 

  "Fantastic"
—LA Times

"The perfect book"
—USA Today

  “pure catnip"
—William Grimes, The New York Times 

   "This book is the stuff that dreams are made of"
—Newsday

  "A fabulous collection. These maps are almost works of art, and can kindle a remembrance of a past trip or a dream of a future journey"
—Seattle Times

"Impossibly nerdy and thoroughly compelling"
—Kansas City Star

  "This is the kind of book that would be incredibly fun to browse with kids as part of a world geography investigation--and also the sort of thing that makes great bedtime reading if you want to salt your dreams with the possibility of travel to distant cities. Sheer public transit/map porn!"
—Boingboing.com

“Fascinating”
—Peter Greenberg, National Public Radio

  "Even if you are not a "map person" this book makes it so easy to experience the unique perspective of rail-based transit. Artistically a treat with its interesting colors, shapes and design; it's a coffee table essential. Ovenden brings a unique perspective to maps and to travel in general. Transit Maps of the World is a must-read for the literary traveller"
—Literary Traveller.com

  "A vibrant tip of the hat to the world's urban train systems"
—National Geographic Intelligent Traveller

“…look no further for the next must-have book”
—Very Short List

“The sort of book you couldn’t imagine you needed until you got it and now you can’t imagine how you could do without it . . . It’s fantastic!”
—Robert Elms, BBC London

“Like a Condé Nast Traveler magazine for jetsetters with subterranean tendencies.”
—Metro

“Delightful.”
—The Guardian, London

“A beautifully illustrated study of the plans that help passengers navigate the world’s metropolitan railway systems.”
—The Times, London

“An object lesson in information design.”
—Wallpaper

Product Description
Transit Maps of the World is the first and only comprehensive collection of historic and current maps of every rapid-transit system on earth. Using glorious, colorful graphics, Mark Ovenden traces the history of mass transit-including rare and historic maps, diagrams, and photographs, some available for the first time since their original publication. Transit Maps is the graphic designer’s new bible, the transport enthusiast’s dream collection, and a coffee-table essential for everyone who’s ever traveled in a city.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (October 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143112651
• ISBN-13: 978-0143112655
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 9.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #25,061 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a real treasure!, November 21, 2007

By	David W. Straight (knoxville, tennessee United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

If you're like me, and enjoy poring over maps, you'll find this book a treat. If all the book had were reproductions of current urban rail maps, it would be worth at least 4 stars. But there's much more. There is a short history of urban rail from its earliest days, and then you have maps and text for about 200 cities around the world. You get narratives on the history of each system, but the emphasis is on the evolution of the transit maps themselves. For some cities, up to about 20 maps are reproduced, and some of these date back to the 19th century. There's a wonderful sense of the conflict between having maps that are aesthetically pleasing and maps that are pleasing to someone trying to find their way around.

The book is divided into 6 zones (rather than chapters), with the distinction based primarily on the evolution of the maps:
zone 1: 8 cities, 4 pages per city. Example: Paris, 17 maps dating back to 1900.
zone 2: 15 cities, 2 pages per city. Example: Boston, 5 maps dating back to 1926.
zone 3: 28 cities, 1 page per city. Amsterdam, 4 maps.
zone 4: 16 cities, 2 cities per page, usually 1-2 maps per city.
zone 5: 18 cities, 1-3 cities per page, mostly 1 map per city.
zone 6: 140? cities, about 12 cities per page, often without maps, very short narratives.

The one problem you'll have is that many of the original maps were very large, and so when the transit map of Greater New York is faithfully reduced to two-thirds of a page in the book, you'll either need remarkable eyesight or a very strong magnifying glass to make out details. But the book is not intended as a catch-all way to actually find your way around, but rather as a paean to maps--you're intended to enjoy looking at the maps, not using them for transit purposes. A real delight!

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beck and all, November 19, 2007

By	Robin Benson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A timely update to the first edition in 2003 with a new Zone: 6, listing all the latest and proposed subway systems around the globe. This extra Zone now includes hybrids like tram-trains, monorail or light rail and they all need maps. The other five Zones in the original have had their contents revised also.

I think the beauty of the book is in looking at the way various transit companies have approached the problem of communicating (sometimes complex) information in a simple way for passengers yet each map has its unique points. The book's authors rightly trace the origins of the modern designed transit map to London Transport's Harry Beck. His genius was to discard the geographic location of stations and have route lines as either vertical, horizontal or at forty-five degrees. It's amazing to see how many maps of the dozens in the book still follow this general principal.

However, creating a map that might look graphically stunning is not always enough. New York's MTA got Massimo Vignelli to design their map and it looks a visual treat but passengers weren't impressed and found it confusing so the MTA revised it. Vignelli's 1979 map and the latest 2007 MTA one are shown together on a spread in the book, two maps with the same information yet looking so different.

This update has a few more train and station photos to fill the space that was frequently left blank in the first edition and there is a nice touch with a spread near the back that includes some fantasy maps. If I have a fault with the book it is that in the new Zone 6 section many of the maps are so small that I don't think they were worth including.

I thinks it's worth pointing out that Transit Maps is not designed as a reference guide for travelers to cities around the world but as a celebration of the beauty that is inherent in these colorful diagrams.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comments from a transit fan and a map lover, December 1, 2007

By	Bruce R. Gilson (Rockville, MD United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As you can tell from the title, I was drawn to this book from two of my interests. This book is great! It gives samples of current and historical maps from transit systems all over the world, and it is a treat to look at. I have only two minor faults to find -- not enough to detract from the 5-star rating: 1. some of the maps are reproduced too small (I wish he had made the 1911 Brooklyn elevated map full page size, for example) or too dark (a Chicago transit map from the late 1940s is very hard to read) and 2. (very much my own personal taste) I wish he had included some historical maps from Philadelphia (he only has a current map of that city, one of my favorites).

One thing that does seem a bit strange: Although it is no surprise that the author, a native of London, writes in British English, it is rather odd that he seems to find it necessary to translate the *names* of American transit companies into British English, changing "transportation" to "transport" and "railroad" to "railway." Most people would, I think, leave the official names alone!

I hope the author reads this comment so he might be able to take it into account if he comes out with a revised edition -- I know this one has already been revised from the original.