22 January 2003

Small drawbacks of Harry Beck underground map A measure of the genius of the Harry Beck-originated London tube map is that one of the very few things it doesn't do better than a geographically accurate tube map (also mirrored here) is inform you that it would be much quicker to walk a trip than take it by tube: Leicester Square to Covent Garden (250 metres away) Mansion House to Bank (change once, 6 stops - as noted by Bill Bryson in Notes From a Small Island (though you could walk to Bank districtline and go in two stops, but his point is still well made)) Chancery Lane to Farringdon (change twice, 4 stops) Even Finchley Road to Hampstead (change twice, 9 stops) could be walked in half an hour, although what neither map will tell you is that it's up a steep hill. Related: V-2's Why the map is not the territory (geography and schematic maps are different; sometimes schematisation goes too far) Also, the Tube's Tubeguru interactive map (IE only we'd recommend) provides more contextual information (geographic, local). [update: more here: What is the centre of the tube network?, ET on the tube map, Real-time SF commuter map shows buses] 1:10:45 PM     comments