Designing a map on such a large scale, especially as an amateur without professional experience, demanded a high level of concentration, passion for the task at hand, careful observation of existing maps, and, most importantly, strategic thinking.
In the beginning, strategic thinking was lacking tremendously. The original project aimed to create a handy map of shortcuts for the Porto public transport system, presenting the most necessary indormation only.
However, without a specific plan or sufficient data, the project organically expanded, so I decided to incorporate all possible bus routes into the map, plus places of interest and other sort of data. It took me over 300 hours to finish the project, and more than 60 hours to prepare it for publication on my website. Later, this gigantic map helped me to construct the Map of Shortcuts in Porto. You can have a look at this project here .
Below, is a timelapse video of map making process. If you wish to delve deeper into the details, feel free to explore the reading section. Welcome!
Understanding the map's format is crucial from the outset. Questions arise: How large should it be for printing? From what distance should the information remain legible? Initially envisioning a shortcut map at A3 size, I expanded it to A2 after testing font sizes suitable for this format.
In the initial stages, uncertainty surrounded the amount of information to include. Which bus lines and stops should feature? How to select and prioritize bus routes? Was there room for points of interest and landmarks?
Choosing the map's orientation proved a another challenge. Vertical alignment seemed logical, given the official metro map's orientation and the north-to-south stretch of the Porto metropolitan area along the seashore.
On the other hand, STCP uses horizontal maps, and the densest transit information is often presented horizontally, as shown in the picture below:
This scheme clearly demonstrates that a significant portion of information is displayed horizontally.
Realizing that focusing solely on shortcuts was impractical without analyzing all bus routes, I opted to include as many as possible. It transformed from a shortcut map into a comprehensive representation of all public transport in the closest Porto municipalities—buses, metro, and trains. Consequently, I chose to create an A0-sized map, measuring 842 x 1190 mm.
Two primary approaches guide the structuring of public transport information: geographical and geometric.
The geographical approach offers precise details about lines, stops, key landmarks, roads, etc., aligning with the city's scale and proportions. Users gain a clear understanding of distances. The old STCP map adopts a geographical structure.
In contrast, the geometric approach distorts city geography, omitting details about the arrangement of city landmarks. From the other side, it offers advantages in readability, memorability, and visual accessibility. Geometric maps provide flexibility in spacing and object positioning. When information is abundant, space can expand, and when it's scarce, space can contract. In geometric diagrams, transport network takes precedence over city details.
Porto's current metro map is a geometric diagram with added geographical precision due to ample empty space and limited information.
The official STCP map is also geometric, enabling expansion between Campanã and Boavista through downtown, while areas like Valongo, Maia, and Gondomar are more contracted due to substantial empty space and less information to display.
Comparing pros and contras, I became convinced that the geometric approach would be most suitable.
Given the application of the geometric approach, I opted for an orthogonal grid, aligning all lines vertically, horizontally, or at a 45-degree angle. The grid features a step of 0.5 mm, ensuring a high level of precision in the alignment of elements.
The structure of maps is influenced by the city's layout. Some cities boast a highly recognizable geographical structure with natural landmarks like rivers or shorelines, prominently aligned with major transit routes such as train lines and highways. This distinctive alignment facilitates users in forming a mental image of the map. Cities like New York, Moscow, Barcelona, and many others serve as examples of this cohesive relationship between geography and transit infrastructure.
In this illustration from Jug Cerović’s book "One Metro World," you can observe schemes of highly recognizable city transit maps (from left to right, top to bottom): Berlin, Barcelona, Moscow, New York, Chicago, and Paris.
On the contrary, Porto's high-speed transit system is relatively young and still scarce, offering fewer prominent visual cues. The presence of the ocean and the Douro river aids in mentally envisioning the city, with the ocean to the west and the river forming a border between Porto and Gaia. While important streets, avenues, and highways do cross the city, they are not integrated with the high-speed public transport network.
Consequently, it is the designer's task to create a prototype scheme for the public transport, and that is precisely what I tried to accomplish. In this attempt, I gave more emphasis to metro and train lines to delineate the fundamental structure of the Porto transportation system.
The future Rose, Rubi, and Metrobus lines have been incorporated into this map as well.
The main data resources for the project are the following:
Autoridade de Transportes da Area Metropolitana do Porto
Official map of Espirito Santo company for Vila Nova de Gaia
Official map of Maré company for Matosinhos
Official map of MaiaTransportes company for Maia
Official map of TUST company for Santo Tirso
There were several challenges in accessing, obtaining, and processing the data for this project. For example, outdated information on the old STCP map posed a significant hurdle, with some routes no longer reflecting the current reality.
Data discrepancies were also encountered. The current STCP map did not align entirely with the information available on the STCP website. The website of Autoridades de Transporte, intended to provide comprehensive and updated public transportation information, showcased some of the worst examples of data inconsistency. Some routes that were listed didn't actually exist, and there were instances of providers changing or discontinuing services. This drawback translates to a disadvantage in my map, where certain routes may not be accurate or may not exist, or, on contrary, existing routes might not be displayed.
Accessing the Autoridades de Transportes website itself was problematic, with periods of constant downtime and glitches. In terms of user experience, this website might be considered as user-unfriendy, especially when a considerable amount of transit data needed to be found and compared.
The most comprehensive source of information, the Autoridades de Transportes website, experienced constant downtime precisely during the critical phases of my project.
While the Moovit app emerged as one of the best options for updated public transportation information, its constant use on a mobile device turned to be uncomfortable. Unfortanutely, the desktop version has several limitations, which makes it hard for collecting big ammounts of data.
Considering the absence of a reliable and user-friendly online resource, my map inevitably contains some inconsistencies and inaccuracies.
When I began sketching the city center, I had few insights into the format, size, structure, styles, etc. As evident, I chose to reduce the number of metro lines on the stretch from Campanhã to Casa da Música, and introduced the Rubi and Rosa lines. I personally liked these initial colors a lot, but I had to choose different ones due to a number of restrictions.
Also, I attempted to depict transfer stations, i.e. at Trindade, São Bento, and Casa da Música stations.
Now, let's outline a few bus lines and experiment with the configuration of the lines:
In this phase of the project, I encountered challenges in determining the map size, as it directly influences font size and thickness of the lines. The more bus lines were included, the less free space was avaiable. Also I proceeded with tracing the river and incorporating tram lines in this iteration.
The map is becoming messy with bus routes and sightseeing placeholders included. In this iteration, I loved the appearance of the Boavista roundabout and metro transfer, but this concept was lately rejected.
In the following iteration, I finally reduced the bunch of the lines Campanhã — Casa da Música into a single line.
Starting to organize the elements at Hospital Santo António and Aliados.
Reorganizing the elements at Hospital Santo António. Redesigning Cordoaria. More detailed routes around Batalha and Ribeira.
Experimenting with Boavista. Trying to find the best line configuration at Trindade. A new iteration of Hospital Santo António cluster. Expanding the network until Estádio do Dragão.
Redesigning Cordoaria and Hospital Santo António cluster. Experimenting with Boavista. Filling the area between Marquês and Campanhã. Trying to find the most elegant for for transfer stations.
Finally, in this iteration, I started using a 'matryoshka' shape for the tranfer stations. However, this shape will be modified later.
The blue line between Trindade and Campo 24 Agosto now has more curvatures. I don't particularly appreciate this change but had to accept due to the difficulty of placing necessary information around it.
The tram line near Carmo initially had a peculiar curvature, but fortunately, I later found a solution. However, the knot between São Bento and Santo António, with numerous bus numbers and landmarks, remained a persistent challenge throughout the project.
The map finally is expanding beyond the city centre. So much headache, and yet, not even 20% of the project is complete.
The line to Hospital São João is still not ready, but it will be straightened in a later stage. It is necessary to create more space between Combatentes and Estádio de Dragão, and to reduce the space between Combatentes and Viso.
The city center appears more organized, but numerous icons are still missing, and much information requires confirmation.
In the final iteration, I had to alter the color of the main metro lines. The line to Hospital São João is now yellow, as the red color was reserved for bus numbers in terminal stations. The blue line, running horizontally through downtown, has been changed to yellow, since the blue color is used by non-STCP bus lines. The alignment of the pink and grey lines prompted a rearrangement of the corresponding transfer cluster.
Different configurations of the elements in the area of Hospital Santo António. It was one of hte trickiest places of the map:
Evolution of Boavista — Casa da Música:
A huge mess in Maia, Gaia and Valongo:
