A map of the world marked out with a London tube map-style guide to the cities that have Metro systems has managed to annoy pretty much everyone on Twitter. The map was posted on Twitter by 'the master of satire', with the caption "Imagine one day having this train map," and has since been picked apart by Twitter users, who all seem annoyed by it for different reasons.
Many were irritated by the African section of the map. The version shared online shows just a few cities, with the links from Algiers to Lagos and further down the continent shown as "under construction" (an updated version is above, more on that later). It seems as maps and posters go, this one is more controversial than most – see our favourite poster designs for some slightly less divisive examples.
Ok but why is Africa “under construction” and only has 4 cities? Do they not know how to work a map or find out the names of places in Africa? Addis? Nairobi? Joburg? Cairo?June 18, 2020
Others were irked by the placement of cities on the map, which shows Lisbon as just a stop away from South America. One user even tried to map out how the map would look on Google Maps. It didn't go too well.
I was furious throughout the process of making it. To get from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Caracas, just go via Lisbon. pic.twitter.com/U3QoUJP3njJune 18, 2020
However, most of these irritated posters have missed the point of the map, which according to its designer, Mark Ovenden, was never designed to represent actual connections between places. It features in his book Transit Maps of the World (it was originally made in 2002 for the book Metro Maps of the World) and was meant as a "whimsical way to illustrate the cities in the world that had a rapid transit system".
"The graphic iconography was purely inspired by the design of the London Underground diagram, originally created by Harry Beck in the early 1930s," Ovenden told Creative Bloq. "The shape of Beck's London Underground map deliberately exaggerated the central area where there are lots of stations in order to make it more legible and fit in the text of the station names. My design was approved by Transport for London and executed by the chap who updates the London Tube diagram, Alan Foale.
"Beck's diagram is famously not geographically accurate and neither was the intention of my design," continues Ovenden. "...there was no intention whatsoever of my light-hearted design being a comment on cities or countries which did not have metro-like systems at that time."
Ovenden was surprised to see his design attracting such attention on Twitter, and replied to some of the comments explaining the context of the map.
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Thank you for putting my design in context Signe! Nothing whatsoever to do with actual connections, just about a play on a tube map with cities in the book that have a metro system. Would've been helpful for the first post to explain! Cheers anyhow :-)June 18, 2020
"Many people posting on Twitter have understood the original intention (and some expressed interest in the book), but some people have taken it as a genuine proposal for actual rail links, which would of course be impossible across oceans, or been offended by the lack of ’stations’ in Africa or India," says Ovenden. He also notes he is "absolutely mortified" if his map has caused offence.
Rosie Hilder is Creative Bloq's Deputy Editor. After beginning her career in journalism in Argentina – where she worked as Deputy Editor of Time Out Buenos Aires – she moved back to the UK and joined Future Plc in 2016. Since then, she's worked as Operations Editor on magazines including Computer Arts, 3D World and Paint & Draw and Mac|Life. In 2018, she joined Creative Bloq, where she now assists with the daily management of the site, including growing the site's reach, getting involved in events, such as judging the Brand Impact Awards, and helping make sure our content serves the reader as best it can.
