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Arlington Belmont Boston Braintree Brookline Cambridge |
Chelsea Dedham Everett Harbor Islands Lexington Malden |
Medford Milton Needham Newton Quincy Revere |
Somerville Waltham Watertown Westwood Winthrop |
| So
I'm waiting on the Park Street platform
and I see two out-of-towners staring at a T map, contemplating whether they
should continue to wait for the train (now 10 minutes late) or walk to their
destination. One says to the other, "Well, we walked past the Downtown
Crossing stop on the way here and that took less than 5 minutes. So all
we have to do is walk west, then northwest, and we'll be at MIT in no time!"
They're probably still wandering along the Charles as we speak. First off, I have to give credit to the MBTA for their new map, a much more accurate representation of direction and distance than their old map. Unfortunately, most stations only carry the old map, which is so out-of-proportion that it's no wonder why no one can find their way around this city. I started thinking about what Boston would look like through the eyes of those individual(s) who designed the old map. Using my handy-dandy WARP program, I created the maps above to demonstrate this concept. On the left is a city map of Boston true-to-life; on the left, a city map warped according to the placement of stations on the old map. So, what does this new map tell us? Did the original map designers hide some hidden message in their layout that is now revealed in this warped city map? Will Brookline splinter into three pieces as the wealthy branch eastward? Will Braintree invade Quincy? Am I just starting rumors here? Well...maybe so, but answer me this: Boston and Cambridge seem to be doing a darned good job smushing Somerville into oblivion on this map...is that why we only have one T stop in the city? |
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