Name: Making sense of maps
Uploaded: 2012-09-29T14:02:27Z
Duration: 16 min 19 s
Description: Aris Venetikidis is fascinated by the maps we draw in our minds as we move around a city -- less like street maps, more like schematics or wiring diagrams, abstract images of relationships between places. How can we learn from these mental maps to make better real ones? As a test case, he remakes the notorious Dublin bus map.

Aris Venetikidis is fascinated by the maps we draw in our minds as we move around a city -- less like street maps, more like schematics or wiring diagrams, abstract images of relationships between places. How can we learn from these mental maps to make better real ones? As a test case, he remakes the notorious Dublin bus map.

Making sense of maps

People instinctively create mental maps that use straight lines, symbols, and emotional landmarks to make sense of complex urban environments. These internal diagrams look more like schematics than street maps, and they simplify reality to help us find our way. When public transport maps mimic these cognitive shortcuts, like the London Underground map famously did, they become far easier to use. A reimagined Dublin bus map, for example, revealed how a visually simplified network can illuminate city structure and improve understanding.