Tube map

The July 2024 Tube Map
The Tube map as of July 2024

The Tube map (sometimes called the London Underground map) is a schematic transport map of the lines, stations and services of the London Underground, known colloquially as "the Tube", hence the map's name. The first schematic Tube map was designed by Harry Beck in 1931.[1][2] Since then, it has been expanded to include more of London's public transport systems, including the Docklands Light Railway, London Overground, the Elizabeth line, Tramlink, the London Cable Car and Thameslink.

As a schematic diagram, it shows not the geographic locations but the relative positions of the stations, lines, the stations' connective relations and fare zones. The basic design concepts have been widely adopted for other such maps around the world[3] and for maps of other sorts of transport networks and even conceptual schematics.[4]

A regularly updated version of the map is available from the official Transport for London website.[5] In 2006, the Tube map was voted one of Britain's top 10 design icons which included Concorde, Mini, Supermarine Spitfire, K2 telephone box, World Wide Web and the AEC Routemaster bus.[6][7] Since 2004, Art on the Underground has been commissioning artists to create covers for the pocket Tube map.[8]

  1. ^ Kent, Alexander J. (1 February 2021). "When Topology Trumped Topography: Celebrating 90 Years of Beck's Underground Map". The Cartographic Journal. 58 (1): 1–12. Bibcode:2021CartJ..58....1K. doi:10.1080/00087041.2021.1953765. S2CID 236970579.
  2. ^ 1933 map Archived 19 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine from "A History of the London Tube Maps". Archived from the original on 15 August 2007. Retrieved 7 February 2009.
  3. ^ "Harry Beck and the London Underground Map – The background to the designing of a 'Design Icon' – London Underground Map changing through time but remaining true to Beck's original principle – Designers & Designing – Design & Technology on the Web support resource for students and teachers of Design & Technology at KS3, KS4, A-Level and beyond". Design-technology.info. Archived from the original on 22 January 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  4. ^ "15 subway-style maps that explain everything but subways". vox.com. 24 March 2015. Archived from the original on 8 April 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  5. ^ "Tube map – TfL Website". Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  6. ^ "Long list unveiled for national vote on public's favourite example of Great British Design". BBC. 18 November 2016. Archived from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
  7. ^ "Concorde voted the UK's top icon". BBC. 18 November 2016. Archived from the original on 3 September 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  8. ^ "Underground art: London tube map designs". The Guardian. 20 March 2009. Archived from the original on 2 June 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2021.

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