Stamen Design has created these absolutely beautiful watercolor maps—that are interactive! They also have quite awesome “terrain” and “toner” ones. Here’s how they make them.

(Found via NYMag’s Approval Matrix, which is one of my favorite things ever.)

Salon: "It’s time to love the bus" →

Almost none of my friends use the bus, except to cross uptown Manhattan. I use them whenever I can, especially during off-peak hours, when I find them faster than the subways (and more scenic, and more flexible if I’m going somewhere odd in Brooklyn).

“When it comes to improving mass transit, there’s a lot of low-hanging fruit on the humble city bus. The vital connective tissue of multi-modal transit systems, the bus could be an efficient — nay, elegant — solution to cities’ mobility woes if only we made it so.”

“The bus suffers from an image problem. But not long ago, so did bicycles. Now bikes are the cool kid’s transport, and all it took was a little investment and some reputation rehab.”

curiositycounts:

How to use The New York Public Library’s Map Warper, a tool to harmonize, remix, and create new maps from the library’s collection of over 10,000 scanned historical maps.   (via)

curiositycounts:

Subway systems around the world, visualized on the same scale. See also Transit Maps of the World.    (via)

Amtrak routes as subway lines!

From the same designer who brought us the brilliant U.S. Highway system as subway routes.

The U.S. Highway System re-mapped as subway routes!

(via Transportation Nation)

Must read: Part I and Part II of Jim Hughes’s fascinating history of NYC’s gridded streets, with lots and lots of old maps.

Okay, so I don’t remember if I’ve posted this before. But even if I did, it’s so amazing that I’m going to do it again! Go to Brainpickings to download the huge, intricate pdf.

I love Myers Briggs. I love subways. I love charts and maps. ::shiver::

hopstop:

This is seriously impressive.

patrickharris:

Autistic artist Stephen Wiltshire draws spellbinding 18ft picture of New York from memory… after a 20-minute helicopter ride over city

Read more

hopstop:

We love these typographic transit maps by Fadeout Design. Each line spells out all of the station names.

(via Transit Maps of London, NYC Created with Typography - DesignTAXI.com)

Kabak on Second Ave Sagas introduces a London Tube map that has been modified to represent geographical distance. I know the Underground map is touted as one of the greatest—and I definitely own a few Tube-decorated knick knacks—but it definitely doesn’t integrate well with any other method of travel (especially walking) because the topography is so distorted.

allleft:

 Map

What do you think of the new platform strip maps? I like the long skinny ones better (heh, sorry, couldn’t help it) design-wise, but it’s nice to show the branching off of the 4/5 on the wider ones.

I think they’re a big improvement, having seen them for the Lex line and the R—much clearer if all you want is “I need this station; is this train taking me there?” which I think many visitors to the city do.

“NYC DOT Announces Search for Innovative Pedestrian Information System to Improve Walkability, Economic Vitality of City Streets”

Here’s the press release, the official Request for Proposals, and coverage of the initiative from NY Daily News, WSJ, Transportation Nation, New York Times, Second Ave Sagas, and Streetsblog.