Design Around the World: Metro Maps

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March 12, 2010

Every city looks and feels unique. Regional culture, typography, dialect, local customs and many more factors play a part in defining a city’s differences.

Those differences determine how that city sees its citizens and how it wants to represent itself to others.

For each city with one, the metro plays a part in defining those differences. The metro maps in this post show the skeletons of these cities. Each map explores the paths taken by the residents of that city.

The design and style of the maps appears reflective of the particular place. They may be seen as not only maps, but individual expressions of a local identity.

Here’s a great compilation of metro maps from around the world…

Amsterdam, Netherlands


Athens, Greece


Atlanta, United States



Barcelona, Spain



Baltimore, United States



Bangkok, Thailand



Beijing, China



Berlin, Germany



Boston, United States



Brasilia, Brazil



Brussels, Belgium



Bucharest, Romania



Buenos Aries, Argentina



Bursa, Turkey



Busan, South Korea



Caracas, Venezuela



Chicago, United States



Cleveland, United States



Copenhagen, Denmark



Deagu, South Korea



Delhi, India



Dubai, United Arab Emirates



Glasgow, Scotland



Helsinki, Finland



Istanbul, Turkey



Kiev, Ukraine



Kobe, Japan



Kyoto, Japan



Lausanne, Switzerland



Lima, Peru


Lisbon, Portugal



London, England



Madrid, Spain


Manila, Philippines



Medellin, Colombia


Mexico City, Mexico


Miami, United States



Milan, Italy



Monterrey, Mexico



Montréal, Canada



Moscow, Russia



Munich, Germany


Naples, Italy


Newcastle-Sunderland, England



New York, United States



Nizhny Novgorod, Russia



Novosibirsk, Russia



Oslo, Norway



Paris, France



Porto, Portugal



Pyongyong, North Korea



Rio de Janeiro, Brazil



Rotterdam, Netherlands



San Francisco, United States



Santiago, Chile



Sao Paulo, Brazil



Seoul, South Korea



Shanghai, China



Shenyang, China



Shenzhen, China



Singapore, Singapore



Sofia, Bulgaria



Stockholm, Sweden


St. Petersburg, Russia



Taipei, Taiwan



Tashkent, Uzbekistan



Tokyo, Japan


Toronto, Canada



Vancouver, Canada



Washington, DC, United States



Wuhan, China



Compiled exclusively for WDD by Jon Szczur 

What do you think of these metro maps? Do they accurately reflect the city that they belong to? Share your views below…


WDD Staff

WDD staff are proud to be able to bring you this daily blog about web design and development. If there’s something you think we should be talking about let us know @DesignerDepot.

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