I found this on Reddit the other day and knew I had to share it. Most first time travelers to London will quickly learn that the London Underground Tube Map is not designed with geographic reality in mind. It has almost no relation to geographic reality in London and you discover these quirks when you try to, for example, connect between lines at Bank. This dates back to when Harry Beck designed the iconic diagrammatic Tube map (we have a detailed article on the history of the tube map here). It’s designed that way it is to make it easy to navigate. By separating the Tube lines from reality and making them look like an electrical grid, it makes it easy to follow for locals and tourists alike.
But I’m still fascinated by the differences.
So, an intrepid Reddit user has taken the Tube Map and animated and transformed it into what it looks like if were based on actual reality.
Check it out:
Source. Reddit User Wandering Chemist.
It’s mesmerizing and I could watch this on a loop all day! It also shows why the Tube Map is the way that it is – if the map actually represented reality, it would be confusing as heck to navigate.
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