Show us your City Transit Maps!

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

I would buy that if it ever came to print.

Also, may I suggest something? Perhaps some faint dashed lines in the same colour as the city/suburb names to separate them each. Something like this:

[Joe 90 358]

Also, may I suggest something? Perhaps some faint dashed lines in the same colour as the city/suburb names to separate them each.

The suburbs are all a bit fuzzy and nebulous and don't really relate to a defined area. Real estate agents are the only people who care about those things anyway!

[Sabretooth78 808]

 

Here's a "region-wide congestion" map I had made for a CJ a long, long time ago (which has since disappeared from Simtropolis):

I recall this being fairly easy to create in Photoshop.  As you can see, there wasn't much any congestion to be had.  

Thats the sort of thing most of us use as a base for accurately mapping out cities. In my case it led to this:

<snip>

 

(Also, I cannot for the life of me get these map pages into a PDF in any sort of readable manner. Anyone have any suggestions on how to compile 100-odd pages plus index?)

And zooming out a bit for my next project...

 

<snip>

 

This one is going to take a while - still got about 500 names to make up!

 

Holy carp those are impressive.  My problem is, I would spend more time making the map perfect and forget all about actually playing the game!

[coolwiththecool2 827]

These are interactive maps (not really) on the HSRP Website, which stands for Henderson Speed Rail Project. Despite the fact that the HSPR is a heavy rail system, the Benjamin Sector is in fact light rail. The Benjamin Sector sees 39,000 daily boardings(14 million annual), which makes it the 13th busiest light rail system in the United States.

 

 

Here you can see the sidebar that comes up when you click a stop.

 

 

 

[atsummerlin53 47]

Oh good lord, those maps make mine look like amateur hour. Well, something to aspire to, at least.

[coolwiththecool2 827]

My maps? I thought these were considered ametur maps

[Linoa06 1,374]

Without wanting to brag, these make most of yours look like amateur

 

TayMay27 - Read in the spoilers, I've written down everything wrong with your map and how to improve it.

 

 

Your map is completely unreadable. Too pale, too messy. For starters, the sidebars -- as they are, they are a horrible mess. Stay away from gray and pale colors. The upper sidebar could do better with white over colored backgrounds for each line tab, and making the selected line's tab bigger when selected. You should also really consider redrawing the lines for your tabs, make them more sleek and not as fat. Make them gray if you fill the tabs with bright colouring. Likewise with the station popup - make it black-trimmed, and emphasize the first tab.

 

The map proper has a lot of problems. Stations, first of all. The names take a lot of space - you need to write each line as a single entity, then compress the lines to make a cohesive block. Contrast this :

 

Wille Avenue

 

27th Street

 

 

Wille Avenue

 

23th Street

 

 

To something like : 

 

Wille Avenue

27th Street

 

Wille Avenue

23rd Street

 

The latter names are more easily identifiable, and therefore your readability gets improved. You also truly need to consider using dark fonts. Dark blue or black would work MUCH better. Right now you can't distinguish the pale grey from the background of the map. Replace those ugly grey ticks by something more readable. Most maps have round icons, or ticks to mark their stations. 

 

On stations : you should remove the closed stations, especially they don't have a name. If you wanna keep them, put their names, and a red cross on the station or name (Tube style) or perhaps write their full names in grey so people understand they're closed. Best to do away with them. Likewise, work your station names to be close to the stations, arrows should only be used as a very last resort. On locations ( [Downtown Texas] ) : write them further from the line (possibly in the white spaces), in a different font and size, and keep them grey. They're not as important and won't be mistaken as station names that way.

 

Again the main problem seems to be the polishing. You need bright colours to attract the eye, and a good deal of polishing on the lines, stations, and sidebar design. , The line colours are pretty cool too - pale colours are nicer to the eye than bright ones, this is true, but only when the rest of the map isn't pale and grey and faded itself. The problem is that your lines are not thick enough and the rest of the map seems to blend with them. And not only every line on your map is pale and faded, but they're also all drawn in pale colours, so it's hard to tell what's a metro line and what's a sidebar, too.

 

You also need to seriously work on aligning your names - nobody likes to look at a map with lots of stuff everywhere and seemingly placed at random. Look at the "Next Ride" and "Fare Prices" on the upper sidebar, and see how they're displaced from one another. 

 

On the bright side, with a good polishing the design actually would look pretty nice, though. You may want to use Inkscape - it's an easy to use and completely free program you can use, which has a grid and lots of easy nifty things that'd make your map look much, much better.

 

 

Also, posting my own latest maps - 

 

Leyawiin U-Bahn - I posted it last page and it's an evolution of maps I posted even earlier, but I had to fix a couple of critical mistakes. :> It's meant to be accurate and represents a Cities in Motion tram system.  Again, very much like the subway maps in Cologne and Bonn, and needs a lot more polishing, but oh well :>

 

 

CimX City Map 

 

Another map, this time represents the network of CimX City, also a CiM 1 map. Not very Simcity 4  The design here is much more freelance - I pretty much went with my own thing here.

 

 (Full version here : http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/5223/cimxsubwayy.png)

 

[coolwiththecool2 827]

thanks for the advice! and I use to have inkscape, but I forgot to install it back on my new computer

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

Well back to the drawing board, I scrapped my transit map for a much cleaner design. It is incomplete along with the system, however hopefully it turns out well.

[rubberduck3y6 45]

A metro map for Dennington, the city I'm currently working on, showing the first two lines.

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

Very English!

[coolwiththecool2 827]

indeed! lol

[rubberduck3y6 45]

/\ Thanks! I did have the London Underground map open while I was making it and I guess it shows!

[Durfsurn 539]

 

Here is my first attempt at making a transit map. Next time it won't be a region wide one and it will incorporate smooth curves. I'm just learning how to use inkscape now so I should get better at it!

[Luiz P. Romanini 132]

My first draft of the map of New Hudson. Tips and suggestions are welcome:

 

[AkemiAzula 280]

I used to draw these by hand but naturally they looked awful. Then when I discovered Simcity I stopped drawing city maps mostly.

 

I have Paint and Gimp 2 installed but those curved lines are difficult to create. Straight lines and circles are easy enough. Also I have yet to create a city which I've liked enough to wish to immortalise in map form.

 

I did spend much of my younger days reading street directories and maps though, so I imagine when I do create something worth preserving I'll go to the effort

[Infurno 4]

My map of the Chester City Subway System (Commuter Rail lines are still missing, I will add them later)

 

Link:

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/infurno/Cities/chester_subway_map.jpg

[timmie 988]

I see you got your inspiration for the names from all over the world I like the references to Belgium

[Alejandro24 575]

I used to draw these by hand but naturally they looked awful. Then when I discovered Simcity I stopped drawing city maps mostly.

 

I have Paint and Gimp 2 installed but those curved lines are difficult to create. Straight lines and circles are easy enough. Also I have yet to create a city which I've liked enough to wish to immortalise in map form.

 

I did spend much of my younger days reading street directories and maps though, so I imagine when I do create something worth preserving I'll go to the effort

Is recommended to use a vectorial graphics software to draw maps with curves, like Inkscape, Illustrator or CorelDraw.

[rubberduck3y6 45]

My first draft of the map of New Hudson. Tips and suggestions are welcome:

It looks good. Maybe you could make the bus routes a bit bigger and clearer by losing the rail (?) lines and replacing them with train symbols in the appropriate places? 

[Infurno 4]

I see you got your inspiration for the names from all over the world I like the references to Belgium

 

Thank you! Yes, the idea is that this was a former Dutch colony (hence the Dutch names) which was later taken over by the British.

[rubberduck3y6 45]

Here's an updated version of my Dennington transit map that I posted a while ago, showing the expansion of the system.

 

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

No service after 7? Yikes! You sure you couldn't extend it on Fri-Sat nights?

Its lovely to see the map expand. I like how the former straight red line is curved.

[AkemiAzula 280]

I've been experimenting with Inkscape but have yet to build a city I like enough to make a map of.

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

I've been experimenting with Inkscape but have yet to build a city I like enough to make a map of.

Maybe try a hand at redesigning a real life map you know?

[AkemiAzula 280]

 

I've been experimenting with Inkscape but have yet to build a city I like enough to make a map of.

Maybe try a hand at redesigning a real life map you know?

 

Oh I could make one if I wanted to. But I'd rather wait till I have a nice city layout I really like.

 

I grew up in Sydney and the CityRail map was my first main transit map inspiration, so expect whatever I create to be similar in style to that.

[rubberduck3y6 45]

No service after 7? Yikes! You sure you couldn't extend it on Fri-Sat nights?

Its lovely to see the map expand. I like how the former straight red line is curved.

Ha yeah, those stations serve industrial areas so I figured that all the day workers would have gone home by then and the night workers/security guards would have arrived so there was no need for any trains to stop after 7pm.

[simcity1999 34]

Here's an updated version of my Dennington transit map that I posted a while ago, showing the expansion of the system.

 

Closed on weekends/holidays? What an unreliable rapid transit system (on real life)! But nice map!

[rodent1989 9]

 

Also, may I suggest something? Perhaps some faint dashed lines in the same colour as the city/suburb names to separate them each.

The suburbs are all a bit fuzzy and nebulous and don't really relate to a defined area. Real estate agents are the only people who care about those things anyway!

 

Search Google Maps for Bexley, OH. I never realized that suburbs defined in this way existed (you'll see what I mean,if you search Columbus, OH and note the borders).

[Forthwall 1,118]

Excellent maps everyone

Here is my Amtrak train route map.