Map Warping for the Annotation of Metro Maps

Abstract

Figure 1: Geographic map of the Washington Metropolitan Area with positions of metro network stations superimposed (left). A metro map layout of the same area optimized for readability (middle). In our compound map (right), the metro map is annotated with the warped geographic map. ABSTRACTWe augment schematic maps of transportation systems by superimposing them on street-level maps that are fitted using image warping techniques. While schematic maps are successful in conveying information about lines and connections in a public transportation network, they usually contain little or no detail describing the environment of stations or their embedding in the surrounding area. The annotation of a distorted city map therefore alleviates this deficiency and improves further the usability of schematic transportation maps by merging two different navigational spaces. Our technique for fitting the street map to the schematic map is based on moving least squares in combination with an overlap control technique. We thus obtain an easily readable transportation network map on which we can show all the typical city map features such as rivers, streets, and parks without compromising on the schematization. Furthermore, for the interactive exploration we couple zooming with warping and control over the level of detail in what we call Warping Zoom.

SchemeLens: A Content-Aware Vector-Based Fisheye Technique for Navigating Large Systems Diagrams

“…In our application context, empty space does not convey a specific meaning. In other contexts, however, such empty space may be meaningful, as is the case with metro maps [4]. While our results suggest that users had a good overview of the global structure of the diagram using SchemeLens, it could be interesting to test the technique on diagrams where the absence or presence of empty space may matter.…”

An Evaluation of Interactive Map Comparison Techniques

“…Several other visual composition techniques exist, but were not considered in the following user study as they have a narrower scope and do not necessarily support general map comparison tasks. Böttger et al [5] Figure 5. Coarse characterization of the techniques evaluated in the following study, in terms of visual interference and divided attention (which should both be minimized) and type of scanning.…”

A Time-location-Based Itinerary Visualization

“…While they provide a good overview of the available routes and the whereabouts of the respective stopovers, they do not allow for a quick comparison of departure and arrival times or durations of waiting phases at stopovers. Related approaches provide chances for integrating additional information into the maps, but do not propose a complete possible solution that displays the full itineraries (Böttger et al, 2008). When spatial and temporal information are combined, visualizations tend to focus on the exact representation of the spatial aspect without allowing for a direct comparison of times and durations in overlapping itineraries (Thudt et al, 2013;Ventura and McGuffin, 2014).…”