On Tue, 10 Oct 2006, Mizter T wrote:

Tom Anderson wrote:

On Tue, 9 Oct 2006, Mizter T wrote:

BBC News "Bid to make London walk-friendly"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6032969.stm

"More than 44% of pedestrians use the Tube map to navigate around
London, according to a study by TfL [...]

Not surprising really, but I'm sure the ng could easily list a hundred
stupities should one navigate by this method, even if we ignore the old
chestnut that is Leicester Square to Covent Garden!

Perhaps what we need is a sort of Beck-style diagram for walking routes
(ie roads). It couldn't cover every road, and probably couldn't cover the
whole of London on one map (ie you might just do central London), but if
it could give people a simple skeleton on which to hang their geographical
knowledge of London, it might make them more confident in walking about.
Show major roads in the area, and have some notation for sidestreets. And
an index!

Alternatively, spider-style maps dotted round the place.

Maybe. I think the required map already exists - the A-Z

No. The problem with that, or anything similar, is that it shows too much
- it's hard to pick up the A-Z and instantly see what a sensible walking
route between two nontrivially distant points is. I think people need
something that focuses on key walking arteries.

Also, the A-Z is particularly bad since it's split into fairly small pages
- if your journey crosses an edge, or worse still a corner, you're out of
luck. TfL's cycle maps, which are basically the A-Z printed as sheets
(ignore the coloured highlighting if you're on foot), are better, and
certainly excellent for the price.

Actually I know what I'd like. I find the street maps displayed at Tube
and rail stations - especially the TfL one's that have a street index -
and even those simple one's shown on main bus stops - really handy at
times when I know I'm broadly in the right place but need to pinpoint an
exact location, or route to that location. So I'd find similar street
maps that show the locality, displayed on the street, replete with an
index, very useful.

Yes, not a bad idea at all.

tom

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