Gorgeously simple line art of some of the most complicated city transit systems in the world by John Breznicky.

London

Paris

Tokyo

It is a collaboration between graphic designer, Cayla and engineer, John. In searching for modern and clean New York City transit artwork for their apartment, they came up empty handed. John recalled a line drawing of the subway system Cayla had created previously and suggested they transform the art into a custom large-scale vinyl decal for a wall in their living room.

Who would’ve thought that subway routes could have looked so beautiful? 

View more and purchase the prints over on Etsy

Urbanflow Aims To Turn Cities Into Playgrounds For Interactive Infographics

A really great idea that utilises the power of beautiful data visualisations to help people get to know the city around them. 

Ever find yourself wandering around a new city (or even one you’re familiar with), and approach one of those handy urban info-kiosks only to find that it’s completely inadequate to the task of telling you where you are, where you might want to go, and what is going on around you? Urbanscale has the same frustration, which is why they teamed up with designers at Nordkapp to design a set of updated public signage called Urbanflow that’s as connected and interactive as the smartphone in your pocket. Here’s their concept video:

(via FastCo Design)

I found this lovely blog today, call Cartophile, which takes a look at all things map orientated (see what I did there?!?). There are too many examples to post, but here are some wonderful pieces that caught my eye this afternoon.

                                                                                Map in your coffee

                                                              A beautiful and fun DIY project, perhaps?

                                                          A map made out of moustaches? Why not?

View full blog

The Isle of Knowledge

Mapping the human condition, from the Empire of Love to the Kingdom of Wisdom

(via curiositycounts)

Here’s a fun little Google Easter egg for you. Head over to Google Maps, then get some directions. Start from The Shire, then put the destination as Mordor. Make sure that you select Walking directions.

Can you tell I’m all about Tolkien this morning? 

(via The Next Web)

Song Map by Dorothy

This is just delightful! An entire map, where the road names, parks and features are all famous songs. 

Highway to Hell to Penny Lane, Itchycoo Park to Heartbreak Hotel. And just like places in our own neighbourhood, some are really good and some are best avoided like the plague – remember Love House by Sam Fox?

View more images and buy the print on Dorothy’s website for just £20!

(via FastCo Design)

A Mental Map

What if this was an accurate sketch of your mind? Daily ponderings would be so much more fun, and way more adventurous! Then we could all talk like this:

Oh, I’ve just come from a brief swim in Shame Lake, and now I’m off to hike the Coast of Retail Therapy.

(via brain-food)

Finally, something unique from the infographic world! It’s been a little dry out there recently, and I haven’t truly been struck by anything wonderful for a long time, until this! 

In his series ‘Cosmographies’, Carlos Romo Melgar makes a detailed map of his adopted home of Madrid, where the landmarks represented are that of his own. They’re a record of his movements around the town, his favourite places to visit and hang out, and where key events took place.

Services like Gowalla and Foursquare can map our travels out for us as we check-in, but this is the first time that I’ve seen such movements and recordings of travel so wonderfully visualised, and I’ve never seen it done in such a personal way. This map may not be of any use to someone visiting Madrid, but that was never the intention here. Instead, Carlos has taken his travels around his home city, and personalised and populated a map for himself. 

The future of travel-guides, perhaps? Personal experiences and reviews are everything when travelling, so wouldn’t it be lovely if this technique could be used in that way? Food-for-thought!

View full article on FastCo Design

The term infographic is relatively new, but the art of visualising data and information in a simple and uncomplicated way, is not. I simply love early examples of data visualisation. The beautiful simplicity paired with intricate illustrations is completely inspirational. So it was with great delight that I stumbled across an article on Brain Pickings entitled - A Visual History of Mapping the Universe

The Astronomical Phenomena. (Tien Yuan Fa Wei). Compiled by Bao Yunlong in the 13th century. Ming Dynasty edition, 1457-1463.

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A cool old map of Bristol in The Hatchet, Bristol’s oldest pub