One of the things I love about running this blog is when amateur map designers send me their work for review. The quality of these maps is often amazing, and this one of Istanbul’s rapid transit network by Istanbul native Kerim Bayer is a fantastic example.
Design- and quality-wise, it far surpasses the official map (shown above for comparative purposes), which is a bit of a shambles: weird angles, muddy colours, poorly drawn and a bit old-fashioned. By contrast, Kerim’s map is bright, clear and modern.
Have we been there? No.
What we like: It’s obvious a lot of thought and attention to detail has gone into this map, including what parts of Istanbul’s transit system actually constitute “rapid transit”. As a result, dedicated BRT bus routes are shown, but the city’s two short gondola cable cars are not.
The general layout of the map is very pleasing, with nice even spacing between stations and well thought-out interchanges between lines. I especially like the addition of walking distances between platforms to give an idea of how long a transfer might take.
The colours used throughout the map are bright and modern – the substitution of light blue for water instead of a heavy grey makes a huge difference to the mood of the map.
What we don’t like: Despite looking fantastic, there is one huge drawback with Kerim’s map: everything is just too small in comparison to the finished size of the map. The PDF Kerim sent me is around 41 inches wide, or just over a metre. This seems to me to be a realistic final size for an in-car map, or a map you might find at a train station. However, his station labels at that final size are set at a mere 12 points – far too small to be read at any distance, or on a moving train.
Similarly, I feel that the route lines themselves are a little thin and spindly at the map’s final size – especially for the “under construction” routes, which have a white stroke down the middle of the line, making them very visually weak at any distance. I’d also like to see a little more differentiation between the different modes of transit shown on the map: at the moment it’s a little hard to tell which lines are BRT as opposed to tram or light rail, for example.
Finally, Kerim’s map sacrifices some information shown on the official map, such as the location of park-and-ride stations. While it helps his map look cleaner, this is important information for commuters and should be considered for inclusion.
Our rating: A beautiful-looking map that suffers slightly because of real-world considerations, but still an amazing piece of work that shows great potential. Four stars.
Source: via email from Kerim