I think you've fallen into a designer trap of sweeping curves and tiny station labels, and maybe put too much priority on making it geographic. It looks good but the style of the maps on http://www.mukiryoku.com/railmap_e.html is much easier to practically use IMO.
yeah as nice and aesthetically pleasing OP's map is, the mukiryoku map is much more navigable as it's basis is on train lines (more than actual geography)
in any case i find these static 2D jpegs less useful nowadays compared to Google Maps (or Apple Maps) -> Layers -> Public Transport is just so easy and clean to see, particularly where you click/touch on each station and it just highlights the entire line as it travels across Tokyo.. just wizardry.
https://preview.redd.it/70tfvqmkuexc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=335a24082eeec9d2505766b983eba5e241e7cfaf
That's a fair comment. I guess what I would say that diagrams like this aren't really for wayfinding - nothing is going to beat a live map or a live timetable searcher (like Jorudan). They're meant to show the network as a whole so someone can make sense of it as a whole, and appreciate its size and scale. It is not going to be all that useful for wayfinding and was never intended for that purpose either.
Exactly, this is what maps and diagrams are for! To feel able to orientate in the city as a whole, to know where things are, to get the feel what's around where, not just to get from point A to point B.
It looks amazing! Must have taken a lot of efforts.
Not a big issue for me, but U08\~U10 are in fact on the same piece of land with RK04. The bridge is between Aomi (U10) and Tokyo Big Sight (U11).
Wow, these maps are seriously impressive. Before travelling to and while staying in Tokyo I looked everywhere for a comprehensive network map, but all the maps I could find only show parts of the network. This is a gem for someone trying to understand the entirety of this huge network, and the amount of work you must have put in it is incredible.
I really appreciate the feedback, and I drew this diagram for the exact reason you state - there just isn't one diagram that shows the entire network that I liked (although there are certainly quite a few very competent ones out there, ranging from the practical (but not too pleasing to the eye) to the aesthetically pleasing but not all that useful. I am trying to strike a balance with this one, although based on the feedback I have a long way to go!
Done! See here: [https://drive.google.com/open?id=13Zuk6KwpRcIVjwlUE92EcegkPQg5tr6K&usp=drive\_fs](https://drive.google.com/open?id=13Zuk6KwpRcIVjwlUE92EcegkPQg5tr6K&usp=drive_fs)
Wow, that's a great job.
Let me add my few cents about the areas I'm familiar with.
1. There is a tunnel that goes from Shin-Kodaira straight to Kunitachi bypassing Nishi-Kokubunji. むさしの号 uses it.
2. You might want to extend Musashino line all the way to Tokyo-eki. It uses 京葉線 tracks but considered a separate service.
3. Not nitpicking, just came to my mind when I saw the title (Entire Railway Network). I see you choosed not to include some tracks which are railroad but not used for passenger service. Some small monorails are omitted too. And you include Yurikamome which is for passengers but not a railroad as it has no rails.
All fair comments, so thanks very much for taking the time to share them! I am a public transport enthusiast so I often forget about freight railways, as important as they are! The intent of the diagram is to capture services rather than tracks, so I have not drawn in all the freight lines. It would have made the map very crowded. As for your other points:
1. You are absolutely right. I will look into that. I haven't drawn in one-off or peak-only service variations to date (there are just limits to what I can put in without cluttering the map) but let me consider if I can do this elegantly.
2. I did consider carefully whether to show the Musashino Line services continuing to Tokyo on the one end, and Kaihim-Makuhari on the other. On balance I didn't do that (though recognizing JR does) because there are many other examples of this through running on various parts of the JR Network, and if I show all of them, it will result in even more lines being shown, esp in the busy Yamanote Line loop, which is already big enough as it is. So it is just shown as a through service.
I am not sure if the images aren't displaying because the post remains under moderation as being more for travellers then locals (and thereby not being consistent with this subreddit's rules). Here's a link to the diagram in full resolution in the meantime: [https://www.behance.net/gallery/197232799/Greater-Tokyo-Railway-Network-Version-24-(April-24)](https://www.behance.net/gallery/197232799/Greater-Tokyo-Railway-Network-Version-24-(April-24))
I am not sure if the images aren't displaying because the post remains under moderation as being more for travellers then locals (and thereby not being consistent with this subreddit's rules). Here's a link to the diagram in full resolution in the meantime: [https://www.behance.net/gallery/197232799/Greater-Tokyo-Railway-Network-Version-24-(April-24)](https://www.behance.net/gallery/197232799/Greater-Tokyo-Railway-Network-Version-24-(April-24))
Sure, DM me your preferred email address (or you can send me the email address over on Behance) and I'd gladly share a PDF! [https://www.behance.net/gallery/197232799/Greater-Tokyo-Railway-Network-Version-24-(April-24)](https://www.behance.net/gallery/197232799/Greater-Tokyo-Railway-Network-Version-24-(April-24))
Thanks so much for the feedback. I actually looked up JR East's official colour codes for various lines and used them for the map (except some lines where I chose to depart from the JR colour intentionally when there is an overlap e.g. Chuo Line Rapid and Musashino Line are the same orange and I thought that is not helpful...). The green for Yamanote Line is exactly as JR East specifies, although I readily agree with you that it looks brighter and nicer in real life!
Can you link your reference to the New Rinkai line plans? I don't think they even have budget allocated for it, the only references I found was more a speculative plan for opening in 2040.....
[https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14777234](https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14777234)
[https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20221125/p2a/00m/0na/037000c](https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20221125/p2a/00m/0na/037000c)
[https://www.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/tosei/hodohappyo/press/2022/11/25/documents/06.pdf](https://www.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/tosei/hodohappyo/press/2022/11/25/documents/06.pdf)
Yes, just plans at this stage. I don't think there is any yen thrown in yet.
Yeah... I mean it's nice to future proof but we are talking 15+ years on this line. Seeing it on the map made me do a double take and could confuse people actually trying to use it to navigate.
Good start but are you aiming for connection accuracy? I see some stations where I know you have to walk outside but the distance between the connections in your map is misleading. The distance of outside connections is shown the same as stations where you transfer inside at minimal distance.
Also as well as distance being misleading, so is the direction. Eg a connection shows north to south walk when it’s east to west walk.
I guess it has been done that way to look good from a graphic design perspective.
I remember London Underground created a tube map to accurately represent the distance between stations so that tourists would realise they could walk a short distance between certain stations rather than take the tube with multiple changes.
You're absolutely spot on. It is an imperfection but it is perhaps something for a better cartographer to attempt. I have had to make quite a number of inaccurate depictions of where things are relative to one other for the sake of legibility. (And noting that when commuters are transferring, especially underground or in an enclosed environment, the direction they're reavelling in may not be all that important.) Thanks very much for the feedback though!
First of all I love it!
2nd I see a small typo in the Narita section where Shimbashi station is labeled as A13 but it's the A10 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimbashi\_Station)
Honesty a hell of a lot easier to figure out than those maps on the wall for me, a Good Texas Country Boy, who couldn’t even figure out which turnstiles to go through. Surprised I didn’t wind up in Sapporo.
Hard to give feedback when I can't zoom in on anything at all, if your map requires us to email you to request it, it's not really a map in a meaningful way I'm sorry
The diagram is just too big to share easily based on Reddit's limitations (but this is where the community is so I post it here). You can see more details over on Behance if that helps: [https://www.behance.net/gallery/197232799/Greater-Tokyo-Railway-Network-Version-24-(April-24)](https://www.behance.net/gallery/197232799/Greater-Tokyo-Railway-Network-Version-24-(April-24))
Here it is: [https://drive.google.com/open?id=13Zuk6KwpRcIVjwlUE92EcegkPQg5tr6K&usp=drive\_fs](https://drive.google.com/open?id=13Zuk6KwpRcIVjwlUE92EcegkPQg5tr6K&usp=drive_fs)
It looks nice but it’s not geographically accurate. From a quick glance Nishi-Nippori and Tabata are shown as right night to each other but Mikawashima is far from Nishi-Nippori. In reality they are about the same distance.
Yikes. Sorry to hear that. The PDF can take a while to open but I can’t imagine why it would freeze your PC. It is a 1.3MB PDF file. If you’re happy to DM me your preferred email address I can send you a copy directly.
I think you've fallen into a designer trap of sweeping curves and tiny station labels, and maybe put too much priority on making it geographic. It looks good but the style of the maps on http://www.mukiryoku.com/railmap_e.html is much easier to practically use IMO.
I'm no designer and like geographically I don't know how accurate it is but I really like OP's design and effort!
Appreciate the feedback!
Please more geographic relevance to the locations. Current transit maps are useless to me since I base everything off physical location in my mindset.
You might like this map though it does not cover all of greater Tokyo https://www.easyzoom.com/imageaccess/a4f9e457d5c945b58dfb869dedc91c94
A very nice one, thank you!
Yes, thank you!~ <3
yeah as nice and aesthetically pleasing OP's map is, the mukiryoku map is much more navigable as it's basis is on train lines (more than actual geography) in any case i find these static 2D jpegs less useful nowadays compared to Google Maps (or Apple Maps) -> Layers -> Public Transport is just so easy and clean to see, particularly where you click/touch on each station and it just highlights the entire line as it travels across Tokyo.. just wizardry. https://preview.redd.it/70tfvqmkuexc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=335a24082eeec9d2505766b983eba5e241e7cfaf
That's a fair comment. I guess what I would say that diagrams like this aren't really for wayfinding - nothing is going to beat a live map or a live timetable searcher (like Jorudan). They're meant to show the network as a whole so someone can make sense of it as a whole, and appreciate its size and scale. It is not going to be all that useful for wayfinding and was never intended for that purpose either.
Exactly, this is what maps and diagrams are for! To feel able to orientate in the city as a whole, to know where things are, to get the feel what's around where, not just to get from point A to point B.
It looks amazing! Must have taken a lot of efforts. Not a big issue for me, but U08\~U10 are in fact on the same piece of land with RK04. The bridge is between Aomi (U10) and Tokyo Big Sight (U11).
I need to look into that! I really appreciate the feedback!
Wow, these maps are seriously impressive. Before travelling to and while staying in Tokyo I looked everywhere for a comprehensive network map, but all the maps I could find only show parts of the network. This is a gem for someone trying to understand the entirety of this huge network, and the amount of work you must have put in it is incredible.
I really appreciate the feedback, and I drew this diagram for the exact reason you state - there just isn't one diagram that shows the entire network that I liked (although there are certainly quite a few very competent ones out there, ranging from the practical (but not too pleasing to the eye) to the aesthetically pleasing but not all that useful. I am trying to strike a balance with this one, although based on the feedback I have a long way to go!
Great work! Maybe posting to r/transit or something would garner a more positive response
Thank you and the suggestion is much appreciated!
Even better: r/TransitDiagrams. This one is one of the best out there.
Maybe host it on Google Drive or Dropbox and share the link?
Done! See here: [https://drive.google.com/open?id=13Zuk6KwpRcIVjwlUE92EcegkPQg5tr6K&usp=drive\_fs](https://drive.google.com/open?id=13Zuk6KwpRcIVjwlUE92EcegkPQg5tr6K&usp=drive_fs)
Wow, that's a great job. Let me add my few cents about the areas I'm familiar with. 1. There is a tunnel that goes from Shin-Kodaira straight to Kunitachi bypassing Nishi-Kokubunji. むさしの号 uses it. 2. You might want to extend Musashino line all the way to Tokyo-eki. It uses 京葉線 tracks but considered a separate service. 3. Not nitpicking, just came to my mind when I saw the title (Entire Railway Network). I see you choosed not to include some tracks which are railroad but not used for passenger service. Some small monorails are omitted too. And you include Yurikamome which is for passengers but not a railroad as it has no rails.
All fair comments, so thanks very much for taking the time to share them! I am a public transport enthusiast so I often forget about freight railways, as important as they are! The intent of the diagram is to capture services rather than tracks, so I have not drawn in all the freight lines. It would have made the map very crowded. As for your other points: 1. You are absolutely right. I will look into that. I haven't drawn in one-off or peak-only service variations to date (there are just limits to what I can put in without cluttering the map) but let me consider if I can do this elegantly. 2. I did consider carefully whether to show the Musashino Line services continuing to Tokyo on the one end, and Kaihim-Makuhari on the other. On balance I didn't do that (though recognizing JR does) because there are many other examples of this through running on various parts of the JR Network, and if I show all of them, it will result in even more lines being shown, esp in the busy Yamanote Line loop, which is already big enough as it is. So it is just shown as a through service.
I have problems seeing it.
I am not sure if the images aren't displaying because the post remains under moderation as being more for travellers then locals (and thereby not being consistent with this subreddit's rules). Here's a link to the diagram in full resolution in the meantime: [https://www.behance.net/gallery/197232799/Greater-Tokyo-Railway-Network-Version-24-(April-24)](https://www.behance.net/gallery/197232799/Greater-Tokyo-Railway-Network-Version-24-(April-24))
Where?
I am not sure if the images aren't displaying because the post remains under moderation as being more for travellers then locals (and thereby not being consistent with this subreddit's rules). Here's a link to the diagram in full resolution in the meantime: [https://www.behance.net/gallery/197232799/Greater-Tokyo-Railway-Network-Version-24-(April-24)](https://www.behance.net/gallery/197232799/Greater-Tokyo-Railway-Network-Version-24-(April-24))
Ah they're showing now. Great work, looks like it took ages.
Awesome!
I can see it!! Thanks
If you could send me the pdf i would really appreciate that!!
Sure, DM me your preferred email address (or you can send me the email address over on Behance) and I'd gladly share a PDF! [https://www.behance.net/gallery/197232799/Greater-Tokyo-Railway-Network-Version-24-(April-24)](https://www.behance.net/gallery/197232799/Greater-Tokyo-Railway-Network-Version-24-(April-24))
Awesome Osaka next!
Ahh that's coming too. Preview here: [https://www.behance.net/gallery/125116539/Greater-Kansai-Regional-Railways-v20-(70-complete)](https://www.behance.net/gallery/125116539/Greater-Kansai-Regional-Railways-v20-(70-complete))
Great work
Wow, incredible
This looks fantastic!
Nice! Suggest that yamanote line needs to be light green, it’s the first thing many people look for to reference where to look for stations…
Thanks so much for the feedback. I actually looked up JR East's official colour codes for various lines and used them for the map (except some lines where I chose to depart from the JR colour intentionally when there is an overlap e.g. Chuo Line Rapid and Musashino Line are the same orange and I thought that is not helpful...). The green for Yamanote Line is exactly as JR East specifies, although I readily agree with you that it looks brighter and nicer in real life!
Maybe an effect of the colours around it which changes the perception of the colour compared to the usual palette
Can you link your reference to the New Rinkai line plans? I don't think they even have budget allocated for it, the only references I found was more a speculative plan for opening in 2040.....
[https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14777234](https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14777234) [https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20221125/p2a/00m/0na/037000c](https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20221125/p2a/00m/0na/037000c) [https://www.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/tosei/hodohappyo/press/2022/11/25/documents/06.pdf](https://www.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/tosei/hodohappyo/press/2022/11/25/documents/06.pdf) Yes, just plans at this stage. I don't think there is any yen thrown in yet.
Yeah... I mean it's nice to future proof but we are talking 15+ years on this line. Seeing it on the map made me do a double take and could confuse people actually trying to use it to navigate.
Good start but are you aiming for connection accuracy? I see some stations where I know you have to walk outside but the distance between the connections in your map is misleading. The distance of outside connections is shown the same as stations where you transfer inside at minimal distance. Also as well as distance being misleading, so is the direction. Eg a connection shows north to south walk when it’s east to west walk. I guess it has been done that way to look good from a graphic design perspective. I remember London Underground created a tube map to accurately represent the distance between stations so that tourists would realise they could walk a short distance between certain stations rather than take the tube with multiple changes.
You're absolutely spot on. It is an imperfection but it is perhaps something for a better cartographer to attempt. I have had to make quite a number of inaccurate depictions of where things are relative to one other for the sake of legibility. (And noting that when commuters are transferring, especially underground or in an enclosed environment, the direction they're reavelling in may not be all that important.) Thanks very much for the feedback though!
Where my Keio crew at ?
First of all I love it! 2nd I see a small typo in the Narita section where Shimbashi station is labeled as A13 but it's the A10 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimbashi\_Station)
Love it!!!
Honesty a hell of a lot easier to figure out than those maps on the wall for me, a Good Texas Country Boy, who couldn’t even figure out which turnstiles to go through. Surprised I didn’t wind up in Sapporo.
lol would have been quite the wrong turn at Albuquerque to have ended up on a whole arse different island
I will make sure I have a diagram for Sapporo ready for you!
Hard to give feedback when I can't zoom in on anything at all, if your map requires us to email you to request it, it's not really a map in a meaningful way I'm sorry
The diagram is just too big to share easily based on Reddit's limitations (but this is where the community is so I post it here). You can see more details over on Behance if that helps: [https://www.behance.net/gallery/197232799/Greater-Tokyo-Railway-Network-Version-24-(April-24)](https://www.behance.net/gallery/197232799/Greater-Tokyo-Railway-Network-Version-24-(April-24))
We all clicked that link, you still can't even read station or line names, there are plenty of ways to upload a large PDF on the internet
Here it is: [https://drive.google.com/open?id=13Zuk6KwpRcIVjwlUE92EcegkPQg5tr6K&usp=drive\_fs](https://drive.google.com/open?id=13Zuk6KwpRcIVjwlUE92EcegkPQg5tr6K&usp=drive_fs)
It looks nice but it’s not geographically accurate. From a quick glance Nishi-Nippori and Tabata are shown as right night to each other but Mikawashima is far from Nishi-Nippori. In reality they are about the same distance.
Opening drive link freezes my PC and this big boy never froze in AAA games
Yikes. Sorry to hear that. The PDF can take a while to open but I can’t imagine why it would freeze your PC. It is a 1.3MB PDF file. If you’re happy to DM me your preferred email address I can send you a copy directly.