Spatial Thinking

Minneapolis Building Age: The Hexbin Version

Zoomable image

After some tinkering, I arrived at using hexbins to visualize median age of buildings. This made it easier to differentiate between different construction eras: streetcar suburbia, 1950s bungalows or the recent post-Recession housing boom. 

Minneapolis Building Age

Zoomable version

Height of Minneapolis/St. Paul

Downtown on the Rise

Washington region's first bus rapid transit

Information design and cartography for Metroway rapid bus line.

These panels feature schematic line maps, maps of surrounding area and frequency of connecting services. This was a quick turnaround of just under three weeks (I was assigned to the project on my day one at CHK; it was nerve wracking).

Improved maps for Richmond, VA

I had a pleasure of redesigning the system map for GRTC (Richmond, VA). The schematic-style map helps untangle this often convoluted bus system. The design features bigger, more legible type and highlights more frequent routes over less frequent and express routes in the network. The result is a cleaner, crisper and easier-to-read information aid. It is now being installed through the city as part of a general information overhaul led by CHK America.

Source: Official Website (PDF)

Silver Spring Transit Center

Pedestrian & Cyclists

Neighborhood Orientation Maps

Minneapolis future transit map. Work in progress

This screenshot covers almost the entire area of Minneapolis. The future lines will continue to closely follow historical development patterns from the streetcar era, which favored north-south  axis culminating at Hennepin and Nicollet avenues downtown. And even though Minneapolis has lost a great deal of population density (7,300/ sq mi vs 9600 at its peak in 1950s), many of today's densiest neighborhoods exist in part thanks to the excellent fixed guideway system of the time. 

Making Oklahoma City's Transit Map

In 2014, I collaborated with mapping firm Cardinal Maps on the redesign of information products for EMBARK, Oklahoma City’s newly rebranded transit agency. The network was being re-imagined to provide more frequent and more direct bus service to meet growing demand. Oklahoma City is often compared to Austin, TX for their efforts to become less depended on cars as a chief mode of transportation in the city.

Download EMBARK system map brochure (PDF)

I didn’t want to move away from geographically-accurate representation completely, but rather settle somewhere in between: The map is not quite a GIS-overlay, but neither it is a subway-style diagrammatic map. This hybrid approach had already been deployed  by Kick Map (http://www.kickmap.com/) and CHK America elsewhere (see the map CHK America created for Spokane Transit). I wanted to replicate the simplicity and usability of those maps.

By moving to schematic representation, I was able to show outlying areas that wouldn't have otherwise fit on the map. This made it easier to follow the lines.

 Oklahoma City’s gridded geography naturally fits that format.

The map’s layout is based on a modular grid. Each module is about 100  points across, which roughly corresponds to the city’s one-mile mega block, which consists of regular-sized blocks bound by arterial roads:

Taking advantage of the existing geography, I started it out with 45 and 90-degree angles, but had to add additional increments to follow the geography more closely:

Because buses do not run on every street, it made sense to only label the transit streets and the streets leading up to them. Rest of geographic features were allowed to “fade away”: 

Finally, icons play a major role in calling out major destinations located along bus routes. Visually unified with the brand style, they  work just as well at small sizes as they do at big sizes:

Re-building France Ave

Dubai Integrated Transport Network

System Map Design Proposal

A few months ago, Matt Forrest (Carticulate Maps) asked me to redesign Dubai's system map as part of a larger proposal Matt was working on at the time. Here is what we did: