On Wed, 8 Jun 2005, James Farrar wrote:

On Wed, 8 Jun 2005 00:22:00 +0100, Tom Anderson
wrote:

It wasn't until Hutchison, in 1960, that interchanges went black:

About the only good feature of that abomination.

!

This is sensible, though, since it deals with the conundrum of which
line interchange stations should take their colour from. That said, i
really like Beck's pre-1960 maps, where interchanges consist of one
circle on each line (in the line's colour).

I think that in some locations (Charing Cross/Embankment springs to
mind) it looks absurdly crowded.

I don't. Compare the 1959 version, with separate circles:

http://www.ursasoft.com/maps/LURS/big/london-1959.gif

To the 2000, with joint ones:

http://www.ursasoft.com/maps/LURS/big/london-2000.gif

The 2000 map still needs multiple circles to capture Embankment / Charing
Cross, so the 1959 isn't substantially more complex.

That said, we can't see King's Cross or Euston on those maps!

There's another device i quite like on the 1909 map:

http://www.ursasoft.com/maps/LURS/extra/london-1909.gif

Interchanges are shown as solid dots, like normal stations, but one on top
of the other, with the one underneath a bit bigger, so it's visible as a
ring around the one on top. They form concentric circles, basically.
There's an echo of this in the way the 1959 map handles the Circle and
District lines together at Charing Cross.

Perhaps this would be a good way to show cross- or same-platform
interchange, using 1959-style linked circles for different-platform
interchanges, which would simplify big interchange stations, whilst also
giving more information. Alternatively, it could be used for all
interchanges (in which case the radial order could be used to indicate
depth below ground!), but several stations would basically look like
gobstoppers, which would be most unseemly.

Mad props to this excellent website on the history of interchange
symbology:

http://www.ursasoft.com/maps/LURS/

A lovely diversion for twenty minutes or so. I actually really like the
dot-in-circle for mainline interchanges.

I really don't like the look, but it is clever. If one were to use the
concentric rings, mainline interchange could be shown simply by having a
white core - a ring which isn't part of a line, but which echoes the white
design used for NR lines.

tom

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