{"id":1787813,"date":"2019-09-24T13:10:17","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T17:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1787813"},"modified":"2019-09-24T13:10:17","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T17:10:17","slug":"the-new-york-subway-map-gets-more-rethinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/09\/the-new-york-subway-map-gets-more-rethinking\/","title":{"rendered":"The New York Subway Map Gets More Rethinking"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Tauranac is having second thoughts<\/a>. Tauranac<\/a> is the former MTA map designer whose committee replaced Massimo Vignelli<\/a>\u2019s diagrammatic subway map with a more geographical one in 1979; that map, with modifications and updates, is still in use today. He now thinks the map needs an overhaul, according to the New York Post<\/em><\/a>, and at 80 he thinks he\u2019s the one to do it. The Post<\/em> article<\/a> includes some of his suggestions; the MTA is, shall we say, not eager for his help.<\/p>\n

(Tauranac has been active on this file for a while: he released his own subway map in 2008<\/a>: it\u2019s a folded map that is geographical on one side and diagrammatic on the other. It seems to be out of print, but I still have a copy in my files.)<\/p>\n

And a perusal of my own archives will tell you that the project to reimagine and rethink the New York subway map has been going on a very<\/em> long time. Last May Jun Seong Ahn posted a rethinking of the subway map<\/a>\u2014not as the usual poster, but as a wide horizontal map posted above the heads of commuters, as you commonly see in other cities:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Jun Seong Ahn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Debates about the New York subway map generally involve posters on trains and in stations\u2014flat, paper, static maps. Meanwhile the MTA is moving to digital displays<\/a> over the next few years, which may afford train and station maps the opportunity to be as dynamic and changing as the maps on riders\u2019 phones. So far, though, the maps are low-resolution and static<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Previously: New York Subway Maps<\/a>; Tauranac\u2019s New York Subway Map<\/a>; Mark Ovenden: The French (Re-)Connection<\/a>; A Talk About Designing the New York Subway Map on Dec. 7<\/a>; Debating the New York Subway Map<\/a>; New York Subway Line Posters<\/a>; Anthony Denaro\u2019s Map of All of NYC\u2019s Transit<\/a>; New York Subway Track Map<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Tauranac is having second thoughts. Tauranac is the former MTA map designer whose committee replaced Massimo Vignelli\u2019s diagrammatic subway map with a more geographical one in 1979; that map, with modifications and updates, is… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[20,194,1392],"class_list":["post-1787813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-transit","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-tauranac","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1791914,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/10\/new-yorks-mta-is-testing-a-new-subway-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787813,"position":0},"title":"New York\u2019s MTA Is Testing a New Subway Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"17 October 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"The Wall Street Journal is reporting that New York\u2019s Metropolitan Transit Authority is experimenting with new network maps that adopt a diagrammatic design that harkens back to Massimo Vignelli\u2019s 1972 design, or (frankly) to designs used by most other transit systems. The new maps appear in nine subway stations side-by-side\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Transit"","block_context":{"text":"Transit","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/transit\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"MTA Customer Information Pilot Maps","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/mta-subway-diagram-pilot-1024x614.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/mta-subway-diagram-pilot-1024x614.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/mta-subway-diagram-pilot-1024x614.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/mta-subway-diagram-pilot-1024x614.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1838848,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/04\/new-york-city-subway-map-gets-a-complete-makeover\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787813,"position":1},"title":"New York City Subway Map Gets a Complete Makeover","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"2 April 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"Marc A. Hermann\/MTA. CC licence. New York City\u2019s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has announced the first major redesign of its system map since 1979. The new map adopts a diagrammatic style, in common with most other transit maps around the world, for the first time since Massimo Vignelli\u2019s controversial (and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Transit"","block_context":{"text":"Transit","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/transit\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mta-unveils-subway-map.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mta-unveils-subway-map.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mta-unveils-subway-map.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mta-unveils-subway-map.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mta-unveils-subway-map.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/mta-unveils-subway-map.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1789624,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/11\/new-york-citys-live-subway-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787813,"position":2},"title":"New York City\u2019s Live Subway Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"2 November 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"New York\u2019s Metropolitan Transit Authority has released a beta of a new digital subway map that aims to solve several problems at once. It shows train positions in real time and provides service bulletins in a single location. It also promises, says Fast Company\u2019s Mark Wilson, to bridge the long-standing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Transit"","block_context":{"text":"Transit","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/transit\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Screenshot of NYC Live Subway Map (MTA)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/mta-live-subway-map-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/mta-live-subway-map-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/mta-live-subway-map-1024x576.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/mta-live-subway-map-1024x576.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1788496,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/02\/michael-hertz-1932-2020-father-of-the-new-york-metro-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787813,"position":3},"title":"Michael Hertz, 1932-2020: ‘Father’ of the New York Metro Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"27 February 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"Michael Hertz, whose design firm created the map of the New York City subway that in 1979 replaced a controversial (though critically acclaimed) design by Massimo Vignelli\u2014a map that today\u2019s map design largely follows\u2014died earlier this month at the age of 87, the New York Times reports. See also BBC\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Obituaries"","block_context":{"text":"Obituaries","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/obituaries\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"New York Subway Map, 1979","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/new-york-subway-1979-823x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/new-york-subway-1979-823x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/new-york-subway-1979-823x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/new-york-subway-1979-823x1024.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1817259,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/07\/geographical-on-the-nyc-subway-map-debate\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787813,"position":4},"title":"Geographical on the NYC Subway Map Debate","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"13 July 2023","format":"link","excerpt":"Geographical magazine has a short history of the New York City subway map and its controversies. This has been a fraught and hotly contested topic for most of the last 50 years, and Jules Stewart\u2019s article can\u2019t go into nearly enough depth to capture it all, but it could serve\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Transit"","block_context":{"text":"Transit","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/transit\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1791889,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/10\/the-new-york-subway-map-debate\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787813,"position":5},"title":"The New York Subway Map Debate","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"13 October 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"Back in 1978, Massimo Vignelli and John Tauranac debated the future of New York\u2019s subway map. That debate\u2014which in many ways never quite ended\u2014is now the subject of a book coming out later this month. Edited by Gary Hustwit, The New York Subway Map Debate includes a full transcript of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Transit"","block_context":{"text":"Transit","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/transit\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The New York Subway Map Debate","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/ny-subway-map-debate-cover-250x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1787813"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1787817,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787813\/revisions\/1787817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1787813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1787813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1787813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}