Data story. A golden era of trains or a transit wasteland
| Title | Map of public transportation routes in Greater Boston served by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority [etc.] |
| Creator | Andy Woodruff |
| Year | 2020 |
| Location | Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library |
| Title | The great transit desert |
| Creator | Andy Woodruff |
| Year | 2020 |
| Location | Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library |
Cartographer's statement
These two maps mostly show the same, simple thing—where public transit routes exist and where they don't—but send two different messages. One, in the spirit of 19th-century railway maps, boasts of Boston's public transit as a dense and extensive network in a deliberately crowded map. The other map emphasizes areas lacking transit coverage by only including subway lines, adding a population layer, and employing a dramatic desert motif to present a picture of crowded, miserable conditions away from subway stations. Neither makes alterations to its core transit data, but design choices can bend even the most straightforward map data to fit a message.
Two Transportation Stories
The two maps at this stop on the tour are made from the exact same information, but this mapmaker uses geographic information systems (GIS) to tell two very different stories with it. GIS is the area of mapmaking in which a collection of numerical information linked to location is interpreted by a person using a computer application to make a map.
Map of Public Transportation Routes in Greater Boston
Andy Woodruff’s first map uses information about subway and bus lines, lots of labels, illustrations, and an old-fashioned design feel to tell a story about transportation in Boston and surrounding towns.
Look closely at the map. Be sure to read the long title. How does this first map make you feel about public transportation in Boston? What feels true to you about it? Did you notice how most of the names of surrounding towns point in to busy downtown Boston in the center of the map?
The Great Transit Desert
Now click the arrows on the side of the map to see Andy’s second map, telling a very different story. This map uses some of the same information about public transportation and adds information about population. Look closely at this map. Read the title and the paragraph under it. Figure out the legend.
How does this map make you feel about public transportation in Boston? What feels true to you about it?
Which map tells a story of accomplishment? Which map makes an argument for needed improvements? Can both stories be true at the same time? The information Andy used for his maps did not change, but his purpose did. That’s why careful map reading is so important for deciding how much we trust the stories maps are telling us.
That’s the end of our tour! Thanks for joining us!
To explore some of these ideas further, return to the Education Activities page and try one of the lessons, or just explore the exhibition on your own!
Cartographer
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Andy Woodruff is a a cartographer with Axis Maps and co-author of a blog and map series called Bostonography.