However, the execution of the map is almost comically poor: wobbly route lines, clashing labels, uneven spacing of stations and more. One of the longest routes on the map – the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) commuter rail to Fort Worth – is inexplicably scrunched up into the tiniest of spaces, making it look for all the world like it’s the streetcar line! While I acknowledge that fitting an entire rail system into a narrow strip map format can be challenging, I knew instantly that there had to be a better solution than this.

So here’s a quick two-h🔸澳洲幸运10冠军定位计划reworking of the map to the same dimensions (as best as I can tell) and with type at the same size. The map now uses a very simple four-column grid, which allows all labels to be placed to the right of their corresponding route line: no clashing type here! The map is now also strictly diagrammatic. It’s impossible to even attempt to show geographical relationships in a distorted diagram like this, so why even try? All vertical elements are now placed the same distance apart from top to bottom, which nicely lines up all the stations into neat little rows. The one and only concession to geography was to place the TRE Medical/Market Center station along the horizontal part of its route in order to get it closer to the DART Orange/Green Line Market Center station, as they’re in close proximity in real life.

What else? I put on a DART logo, added a disclaimer that the map is not to scale (just in case!) and removed the redundant north pointer. I could probably work this up a little more, but I think I get this definitely gets the idea across. What do you think?

I combined two cool developments I’ve seen in 澳洲10开官网开奖 on the internet, the isometric map from Stuttgart (October 2011, 5 stars) and GIFs of the evolution of a system.

I lived in Dallas for school and again as a professional and while the network could be better, I always enjoyed riding the DART. And actually the system really lent itself to the map principles that seemed to work for so well for Stuttgart.

It is diagrammatic and might be difficult to show in this isometric format as the plans for a second alignment through downtown are finalized. But I look forward to the challenge, it will be great to get 5 minute headways on every line. It is currently a huge bottleneck to run every line through the same street-level trackage.

澳洲10开官网开奖 says:

This is pretty neat, Kevin! The isometric viewpoint looks good, although it may be a little disorienting at 🔸澳洲10定位胆全天计划and take a couple of loops of the GIF for people to work out how it relates to the real-world layout of the DART network.

AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页 improvement I can think of is to make time run linearly in even increments, instead of “skipping ahead” to the next construction activity. If nothing changed between 2002 and 2009, I think that’s just as important to know as 🔸澳洲开奖 the new sections were opened. As it stands, the GIF makes it look like there’s near-constant expansion from 1996 all the way to 2014… and that’s not really the case at all.

I think I may have a new map for y🔸澳洲幸运10冠军定位计划Hall of Shame! Here’s the 168澳洲十开奖网 for A-Train service in Texas. That yellow line’s VERY hard to see on the pale background; there’s much more emphasis on the street grid and the lakes. And those station icons! I can’t tell what five of them are, and it’s absolutely ridiculous to only label them in the legend! Why can’t there actually be labels on the map?

Also, the Green Line connection is horribly misrepresented. It’s a light rail line that you can transfer to at Trinity Mills, but the way it’s represented here implies that it’s an extension of A-Train service. It’s an important connection – they need to get it right!

澳洲10开官网开奖 says:

Steady on there, Kara! Yes, the map has some deficiencies, but it’s no way near being “the worst of the worst” and earning a spot in my Hall of Shame. For a start, it’s generally decently drawn and utilises a nice typeface (Font Bureau’s Agenda). 

I would agree with many of y🔸澳洲幸运10冠军定位计划points however – the A-Train’s route line could have more contrast with the background, and/or could be thickened up a bit. I’d also really like to see its route simplified as the highways and roads are. It seems weird that the roads are all gunbarrel straight, while the train line meanders about all over the place. Intentionally or not, it makes road travel look more efficient and direct than rail, which kind of defeats the purpose of the whole thing, right?

The interchange with the DART Green Line definitely needs some work. As Kara says, it looks like a future extension of the A-Train at the moment; a green arrow pointing southwards could be far more effective.

Like Kara, I’m absolutely baffled as to why the stations aren’t labelled directly on the map – having a legend for the sole purpose of providing names for them seems unnecessarily obtuse. And the low-res rasterisation of some of the icons is definitely unfortunate: probably a byproduct of some very low quality flattening/resolution settings 🔸澳洲开奖 the PDF was exported from Illustrator.

The labelling on the map could also use some work: county names cross over some roads 🔸澳洲开奖 there’s plenty of empty space for them just to the left, and Shady Shores Road’s label strangely reads from the left 🔸澳洲开奖 all the other vertical/angles labels read from the right.

Finally, there’s some strangely selective simplification of the roads: where’s the toll bridge over Lewisville Lake (a continuation of Swisher Road near the centre of the map)?

🔸澳洲幸运10冠军定位计划rating: Bad, but not that bad. One-and-a-half stars.

🔸澳洲幸运10开奖官网开奖结果走势图🔸Source: Official DCTA website

The McKinney Avenue Trolley in Dallas, Texas is opening its loop extension tomorrow, June 6th. Working with MATA (the non-profit operator of the trolley line), I updated the map that I donated to them to reflect this new service (see the final map here). 

And – with my permission – DART is also using the artwork on pole signs along the route (shown above), presumably at the locations where where DART and the trolley interchange. Pretty exciting! If any Dallas readers are headed down for the opening festivities, I’d love to see a photo if you spot one in the wild!

Here🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s a small project that was inspired by a message about the currently existing map for the McKinney Avenue heritage trolley line in Dallas, Texas. As you can see in the gallery below, it could use a little help. However, rather than review and criticise a map produced for a non-profit organisation (most likely by a volunteer or staff in their spare time), I thought that I would create a new, accurate, more user-friendly map instead. While produced as a design exercise for my own benefit, I🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页m hopeful that the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority (MATA) might consider adopting it as their 168澳洲十开奖网.

My version of the map retains all the information that was present on the previous one, but I🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页ve placed everything much more precisely onto a more geographically accurate (although somewhat simplified) base map. I🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页ve also added a little bit of extra information in the form of contact details (website and phone number) and the general hours of operation. The map was carefully formatted and designed to fit onto a US Letter page with half-inch margins: perfect for printing out at home and bringing along with you for the ride! Great care was taken to keep type legible and clear at this output size — a cause that was helped by the huge x-height of the typeface used (Good Headline Pro Condensed).

Stop names are generally labelled as the road the route line is on, referenced to the nearest cross street. There are a few exceptions made 🔸澳洲开奖 there🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s no nearby cross street, or there🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s an important landmark close to the stop, like the Dallas Art Museum or the Magnolia Theater. I located all 38 existing stops by “riding” along the route in Google Street View and pinpointing their exact location (which wasn🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页t always the same as the map view would have had me believe). One final stop – at Cityplace West and McKinney Avenue – proved quite elusive, until an actual MATA operator pointed me in the right direction.

Physically, the map shows an area that🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页s only 1.5 miles wide by 2 miles deep, so I🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页ve tried hard to convey the sense of a small, local neighbourhood. A quarter-mile grid overlays the entire map for a quick sense of this intimate scale. DART transit stops – while still shown on the map – have been pushed lower down in the information hierarchy, as I feel their usefulness for local connections is limited in the context of this map. Their presence is only🔸澳洲幸运10预测 there to remind us that this  part of Dallas is connected with the greater metropolis. Instead, I🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页ve placed a greater emphasis on parkland and the Katy Trail, a popular multi-use (bike/pedestrian) path  that links Downtown and Uptown. The trail seems to be a huge part of the urban fabric of this part of Dallas, and its inclusion furthers the theme of local community in the map.

I🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页ve also made two further versions of the map (shown in the gallery above) that encompass the next two phases of the streetcar line: (1) a spur line down Olive Street that will eventually join up with the original route to form (2) a loop through the Arts District. The locations for the stations on these future maps were guesstimated from the original MATA map, so may be subject to change. The Olive Street spur is under construction right now, and may be opening very soon (although an actual date is difficult to pin down).

If you like the map, please feel free to download a PDF via the button at the bottom of the page. If you find it useful, please let me know. If any future updates to the maps are made, they🔸AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页ll be posted here. Comments, as always, are welcome.

🔸澳洲幸运10开奖官网开奖结果走势图🔸UPDATE – January 2015: MATA have adopted my map as their official route map on their website! (PDF link)

I changed the background col🔸澳洲幸运10冠军定位计划from silver to beige after doing some prints: the whole thing just looked too drab and grey once on paper. This works much better and make the whole map seem a little visually lighter.

Points of interest are taken directly from the current official MATA map, although far more accurately located. The only addition is the the historic trolley barn, which I’ve also highlighted by using the M-Line’s distinctive maroon colour. The map also usefully includes MATA’s contact information and general hours of operation. The whole map is formatted to print out perfectly on a US Letter sheet with half-inch margins all around – handy for tourists to print out and bring along for the ride!

The route line itself shows direction of travel, as well as where the route is double-tracked (down McKinney Avenue itself). I’ve made an effort to show where on the road the tracks actually are – left-running, right-running or center-running – while the little “half-circle” stop symbols indicate which side of the road riders should stand on to board the trolley. Full circle markers are reserved for those stops where the trolley physically changes direction: the turntable at Uptown, and the current southern terminus at St. Paul & Ross.

Stops are generally named after the street they are on, with the nearest cross street as the second part of the name. This only leads to one less than optimal result, 🔸澳洲开奖 the Cole & Lemmon🔸澳洲幸运10预测 stop is immediately followed by Lemmon & Cole🔸澳洲幸运10预测. A few exceptions to the rule are also made for stops near notable landmarks – the Dallas Museum of Art, for example.

DART light rail stations are shown, but lower in the information hierarchy than the streetcar, or even the Katy Trail (in orange), a popular and important multi-use (bike/pedestrian) path that links Uptown and Downtown. The DART line up to Cityplace/Uptown station actually runs in a tunnel underneath🔸澳洲幸运10预测 the freeway, but I’m not entirely sure if that’s really🔸澳洲幸运10预测 an important thing to show on a map like this.

I’ve also made two other versions of this map: one for 🔸澳洲开奖 the spur along Olive Street opens (reportedly very soon), and one for the final configuration with the full loop through the Arts District. All up, I’ve probably only spent 20 hours or so on this project, and that includes drawing the base map from scratch. Once I’m finally done, I’ll be reaching out to MATA to see if they’d like to use this map in any way.

Thoughts? Errors? Can anyone tell me where the mysterious missing 38th stop is?

So here’s a work-in-progress screenshot. Most of the hard work has been done, but I’m still toying with a few elements here and there and adding the final informational layers on top. I drew the street map by hand in Illustrator, which is time consuming but rewarding. I did actually try to export the streets, parks and rivers from ArcGIS to style up in Illustrator, but got incredibly frustrated with the poor quality of linework from the City of Dallas’ GIS files: wonky curves, non-joined road segments, etc. It’d take me longer to clean that up than just draw it myself, so that’s what I did. At least I know what I’m ending up with 🔸澳洲开奖 I do it myself!

The main experiment here – that I think is working well – is the bounding box around the two separate northbound and southbound stops along McKinney Avenue that share the same cross street (and therefore the name of the stop). This means I only have to label the stops once!

Other notes: the background grid is in quarter-mile increments, and the typeface is Good Headline Pro, which has a nice old world “Gothic” feel, but with a bit of a modern twist. Also: huge x-height and tiny descenders, which are great for this type of labelling work. The orange line is the Katy Trail, a popular multi-use path that’s an important part of the urban fabric of this part of Dallas.

Thoughts and suggestions?

True, the map isn’t the most visually attractive piece – it’s very basic in its construction and has labels going just about everywhere, but the sheer level of effort required simply has🔸澳洲幸运10预测 to be appreciated. By my count, there are forty-seven🔸澳洲幸运10预测 (yes, 47!) separate systems represented on this map, from the New York subway to the Tren Urbano in San Juan, Puerto Rico and all points in between. Each and every station is labelled. For the most part, the systems adhere to their standard map layout, although obviously some tweaks have had to be made to make them join up.

While I haven’t checked every detail, I have noticed that the Tacoma Link light rail in Tacoma, Washington is missing. It’s part of Sound Transit’s network, although physically separate from the main Central Link line that runs from SeaTac Airport to downtown. The inclusion of the the much-maligned Detroit People Mover is interesting (is it really proper “rapid transit”?), and begs the question why the very similar Miami Metromover system isn’t also shown.

🔸澳洲幸运10开奖官网开奖结果走势图🔸Source: Mark Knoke/Flickr

I’ve been frustrated with the Dallas rail map for a while, and decided to make a comprehensive diagram of Dallas-Fort Worth rail transit.

澳洲10开官网开奖🔸澳洲幸运10预测 says:

Simply put, this is a beautiful🔸澳洲幸运10预测 diagrammatic map and is far more visually attractive than the official DART map (August 2012, 3 stars). There’s a very elegant, restrained feeling to this: from the subtle grey background and typography to some excellent, slightly unusual col🔸澳洲幸运10冠军定位计划choices for the route lines that work really nicely together. The way the Green and Orange lines interact with the Red and Blue is exactly🔸澳洲幸运10预测 what I wanted to see in the 168澳洲十开奖网, and this treatment looks so much🔸澳洲幸运10预测 cleaner.

AB开奖网澳洲幸运10官网网页 could make a case for the inclusion of a few geographical features or major highways to give a better sense of scale and location, but – purely for route finding – the map doesn’t really need them, in my opinion.

The map’s not totally perfect: I don’t see a need for the smaller type for station names on the TRE and A-Train services: the thinner route lines already differentiate them from the main DART services, and the smaller type is somewhat harder to read. By the time we get down to the Amtrak routes and the M-Line Trolley, the type is almost ridiculously🔸澳洲幸运10预测 small.

There’s also a typo in the legend that references the “Fort Worth Transportaion🔸澳洲幸运10预测 Authority”.

🔸澳洲幸运10冠军定位计划rating:🔸澳洲幸运10预测 Excellent work that takes a completely different approach to the 168澳洲十开奖网 and does it very well. F🔸澳洲幸运10冠军定位计划stars.

Have we been there?🔸澳洲幸运10预测 No.

What we like:🔸澳洲幸运10预测 Relatively clean and simple compared to many American 澳洲10开官网开奖. The street grid is visible, but subsidiary to the main information. The downtown inset, which at 🔸澳洲10定位胆全天计划doesn’t seem to offer much more information that the main map, is actually a very nicely done orientation guide, especially with the reference to the streetcar, which is below the scale of the main map.

What we don’t like:🔸澳洲幸运10预测 Sometimes can’t decide if its a diagram or a map. The wiggle on the eastern end of the Blue Line before Rowlett seems totally unnecessary, and the new Orange Line jumps around all over the place.

Not sure about labelling stations in the same col🔸澳洲幸运10冠军定位计划as the line they’re on: the orange is a very recessive col🔸澳洲幸运10冠军定位计划compared to the others, and it means that stations that serve multiple lines get black. I would have preferred all station names in black, as it is arguably the most important information on the map.

I would have crossed the Green and Orange lines over each other at their eastern intersection, rather than the west to get a cleaner-looking T-junction after West End station. It’s also unfortunate that the Orange and Green lines are next to each other. As commenters pointed out on the Miami map, orange and green look very similar for colour-blind people.

Finally, it looks like US 75 and I-45 are missing their light grey centre stroke, as they’re the only two roads to be shown in a darker grey. And what happens to I-35W after it hits I-20 at the bottom left? It should continue south behind the legend, as US 67 does.

🔸澳洲幸运10冠军定位计划rating: 🔸澳洲幸运10预测A solid map, if not spectacular. Three stars.

🔸澳洲幸运10开奖官网开奖结果走势图🔸Source: Official DART website