Making sense of maps
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0:00 - 0:02What I do is I organize information.
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0:02 - 0:03I'm a graphic designer.
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0:04 - 0:06Professionally, I try to make sense
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0:06 - 0:10often of things that don't
make much sense themselves. -
0:10 - 0:14So my father might not understand
what it is that I do for a living. -
0:14 - 0:16His part of my ancestry has been farmers.
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0:16 - 0:19He's part of this ethnic minority
called the Pontic Greeks. -
0:20 - 0:24They lived in Asia Minor
and fled to Greece after a genocide -
0:24 - 0:26about a hundred years ago.
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0:27 - 0:31And ever since that, migration
has somewhat been a theme in my family. -
0:31 - 0:35My father moved to Germany,
studied there and married, -
0:35 - 0:40and as a result, I now have
this half-German brain, -
0:40 - 0:43with all the analytical thinking
and that slightly dorky demeanor -
0:43 - 0:45that come with that.
-
0:45 - 0:48And of course it meant
that I was a foreigner in both countries, -
0:48 - 0:53and that of course made it pretty easy
for me to migrate as well, -
0:53 - 0:55in good family tradition, if you like.
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0:56 - 0:59But of course, most journeys
that we undertake from day to day -
0:59 - 1:01are within a city.
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1:01 - 1:03And, especially if you know the city,
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1:03 - 1:07getting from A to B
may seem pretty obvious, right? -
1:08 - 1:12But the question is, why is it obvious?
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1:12 - 1:14How do we know where we're going?
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1:14 - 1:18So I washed up on a Dublin ferry port
about 12 years ago, -
1:18 - 1:20a professional foreigner, if you like,
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1:20 - 1:23and I'm sure you've all had
this experience before, yeah? -
1:23 - 1:25You arrive in a new city,
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1:25 - 1:29and your brain is trying
to make sense of this new place. -
1:29 - 1:33Once you find your base, your home,
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1:33 - 1:37you start to build this cognitive map
of your environment. -
1:37 - 1:41It's essentially this virtual map
that only exists in your brain. -
1:41 - 1:43All animal species do it,
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1:43 - 1:46even though we all use
slightly different tools. -
1:46 - 1:52Us humans, of course, we don't move around
marking our territory by scent, like dogs. -
1:52 - 1:58We don't run around emitting
ultrasonic squeaks, like bats. -
1:58 - 2:00We just don't do that,
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2:00 - 2:03although a night in the Temple Bar
district can get pretty wild. -
2:03 - 2:04(Laughter)
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2:04 - 2:08No, we do two important things
to make a place our own. -
2:08 - 2:11First, we move along linear routes.
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2:11 - 2:14Typically, we find a main street,
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2:14 - 2:17and this main street becomes
a linear strip map in our minds. -
2:17 - 2:20But our mind keeps it pretty simple, yeah?
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2:20 - 2:23Every street is generally perceived
as a straight line, -
2:23 - 2:27and we kind of ignore the little twists
and turns that the streets make. -
2:27 - 2:30When we do, however,
make a turn into a side street, -
2:30 - 2:35our mind tends to adjust that turn
to a 90-degree angle. -
2:35 - 2:38This of course makes for
some funny moments -
2:38 - 2:40when you're in some old city layout
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2:40 - 2:45that follows some sort
of circular city logic, yeah? -
2:45 - 2:47Maybe you've had that experience as well.
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2:47 - 2:50Let's say you're on some spot
on a side street -
2:50 - 2:53that projects from a main
cathedral square, -
2:53 - 2:57and you want to get to another point
on a side street just like that. -
2:57 - 3:01The cognitive map
in your mind may tell you, -
3:01 - 3:05"Aris, go back to the main
cathedral square, -
3:05 - 3:08take a 90-degree turn
and walk down that other side street." -
3:08 - 3:13But somehow you feel adventurous that day,
and you suddenly discover -
3:13 - 3:18that the two spots were actually
only a single building apart. -
3:18 - 3:19Now, I don't know about you,
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3:19 - 3:21but I always feel
like I find this wormhole -
3:21 - 3:24or this inter-dimensional portal.
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3:24 - 3:25(Laughter)
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3:25 - 3:29So we move along linear routes
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3:29 - 3:35and our mind straightens streets
and perceives turns as 90-degree angles. -
3:35 - 3:38The second thing that we do
to make a place our own -
3:38 - 3:42is we attach meaning
and emotions to the things -
3:42 - 3:45that we see along those lines.
-
3:45 - 3:51If you go to the Irish countryside
and you ask an old lady for directions, -
3:51 - 3:55brace yourself for some
elaborate Irish storytelling -
3:55 - 3:57about all the landmarks, yeah?
-
3:57 - 4:00She'll tell you the pub
where her sister used to work, -
4:00 - 4:03and "... go past that church
where I got married," that kind of thing. -
4:03 - 4:08So we fill our cognitive maps
with these markers of meaning. -
4:08 - 4:14What's more, we abstract
repeat patterns and recognize them. -
4:14 - 4:19We recognize them by the experiences
and we abstract them into symbols. -
4:20 - 4:24And of course, we're all capable
of understanding these symbols. -
4:25 - 4:26(Laughter)
-
4:26 - 4:30What's more, we're all capable
of understanding the cognitive maps, -
4:30 - 4:36and you are all capable of creating
these cognitive maps yourselves. -
4:36 - 4:40So next time, when you want to tell
your friend how to get to your place, -
4:40 - 4:44you grab a beermat, grab a napkin,
and you just observe yourself -
4:44 - 4:49create this awesome piece
of communication design. -
4:49 - 4:50It's got straight lines.
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4:50 - 4:53It's got 90-degree corners.
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4:53 - 4:55You might add little symbols
along the way. -
4:55 - 4:59And when you look
at what you've just drawn, -
4:59 - 5:04you realize it does not
resemble a street map. -
5:04 - 5:08If you were to put an actual street map
on top of what you've just drawn, -
5:08 - 5:12you'd realize your streets
and the distances -- they'd be way off. -
5:13 - 5:19No, what you've just drawn
is more like a diagram or a schematic. -
5:19 - 5:24It's a visual construct
of lines, dots, letters, -
5:24 - 5:26designed in the language of our brains.
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5:27 - 5:29So it's no big surprise
-
5:29 - 5:34that the big information-design icon
of the last century -- -
5:34 - 5:38the pinnacle of showing everybody
how to get from A to B, -
5:38 - 5:40the London Underground map --
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5:40 - 5:44was not designed by a cartographer
or a city planner; -
5:44 - 5:48it was designed
by an engineering draftsman. -
5:49 - 5:50In the 1930s,
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5:50 - 5:57Harry Beck applied the principles
of schematic diagram design -
5:57 - 6:00and changed the way public transport
maps are designed forever. -
6:01 - 6:05Now the very key
to the success of this map -
6:05 - 6:09is in the omission
of less important information -
6:09 - 6:12and in the extreme simplification.
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6:12 - 6:16So, straightened streets,
corners of 90 and 45 degrees, -
6:16 - 6:22but also the extreme geographic
distortion in that map. -
6:22 - 6:26If you were to look at the actual
locations of these stations, -
6:26 - 6:28you'd see they're very different.
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6:28 - 6:32But this is all for the clarity
of the public Tube map. -
6:33 - 6:36If you, say, wanted to get
from Regent's Park station -
6:36 - 6:38to Great Portland Street,
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6:38 - 6:40the Tube map would tell you:
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6:40 - 6:44take the Tube, go to Baker Street,
change over, take another Tube. -
6:44 - 6:48Of course, what you don't know
is that the two stations -
6:48 - 6:51are only about a hundred meters apart.
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6:51 - 6:54Now we've reached the subject
of public transport, -
6:54 - 6:57and public transport here in Dublin
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6:57 - 6:59is a somewhat touchy subject.
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6:59 - 7:01(Laughter)
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7:01 - 7:04For everybody who does not know
the public transport here in Dublin, -
7:04 - 7:09essentially, we have this system
of local buses that grew with the city. -
7:09 - 7:13For every outskirt that was added,
there was another bus route added, -
7:13 - 7:17running from the outskirt
all the way to the city center. -
7:18 - 7:22And as these local buses
approach the city center, -
7:22 - 7:27they all run side by side and converge
in pretty much one main street. -
7:28 - 7:31So when I stepped off
the boat 12 years ago, -
7:31 - 7:34I tried to make sense of that.
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7:36 - 7:39Because exploring a city on foot
only gets you so far. -
7:40 - 7:45But when you explore a foreign
and new public transport system, -
7:45 - 7:50you will build a cognitive map
in your mind in pretty much the same way. -
7:51 - 7:56Typically, you choose yourself
a rapid transport route, -
7:56 - 8:00and in your mind, this route
is perceived as a straight line. -
8:00 - 8:02And like a pearl necklace,
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8:02 - 8:07all the stations and stops are nicely
and neatly aligned along the line. -
8:08 - 8:13And only then you start to discover
some local bus routes -
8:13 - 8:15that would fill in the gaps,
-
8:15 - 8:20and that allow for those wormhole,
inter-dimensional portal shortcuts. -
8:22 - 8:25So I tried to make sense,
and when I arrived, -
8:25 - 8:28I was looking for some
information leaflets -
8:28 - 8:31that would help me crack this system
and understand it, -
8:31 - 8:33and I found those brochures.
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8:33 - 8:37(Laughter)
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8:37 - 8:41They were not geographically distorted.
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8:41 - 8:45They had a lot of omission of information,
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8:45 - 8:47but unfortunately, the wrong information.
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8:47 - 8:49Say, in the city center --
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8:49 - 8:52there were never actually any lines
that showed the routes. -
8:52 - 8:53(Laughter)
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8:53 - 8:58There are actually not even
any stations with names. -
8:58 - 8:59(Laughter)
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8:59 - 9:05Now, the maps of Dublin transport
have gotten better, -
9:05 - 9:10and after I finished the project,
they got a good bit better, -
9:10 - 9:13but still no station names,
still no routes. -
9:13 - 9:19So, being naive,
and being half-German, I decided, -
9:20 - 9:22"Aris, why don't you build your own map?"
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9:23 - 9:24So that's what I did.
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9:24 - 9:30I researched how each and every bus route
moved through the city, nice and logical, -
9:30 - 9:32every bus route a separate line.
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9:33 - 9:36I plotted it into my own map of Dublin,
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9:36 - 9:39and in the city center ...
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9:39 - 9:40I got a nice spaghetti plate.
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9:40 - 9:43(Laughter)
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9:43 - 9:46Now, this is a bit of a mess,
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9:46 - 9:48so I decided, of course,
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9:48 - 9:52"You're going to apply
the rules of schematic design," -
9:52 - 9:54cleaning up the corridors,
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9:54 - 9:56widening the streets
where there were loads of buses -
9:56 - 10:01and making the streets at straight,
90-degree corners, 45-degree corners -
10:01 - 10:03or fractions of that,
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10:03 - 10:06and filled it in with the bus routes.
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10:06 - 10:09And I built this city center
bus map of the system, -
10:09 - 10:11how it was five years ago.
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10:11 - 10:14I'll zoom in again
so that you get the full impact -
10:14 - 10:16of the quays and Westmoreland Street.
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10:16 - 10:19(Laughter)
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10:19 - 10:21Now I can proudly say --
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10:21 - 10:27(Applause)
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10:27 - 10:31I can proudly say,
as a public transport map, -
10:31 - 10:35this diagram is an utter failure.
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10:35 - 10:37(Laughter)
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10:37 - 10:39Except, probably, in one aspect:
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10:39 - 10:42I now had a great visual representation
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10:42 - 10:46of just how clogged up and overrun
the city center really was. -
10:47 - 10:49Now, call me old-fashioned,
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10:49 - 10:53but I think a public transport
route map should have lines, -
10:53 - 10:55because that's what they are, yeah?
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10:55 - 10:58They're little pieces of string
that wrap their way -
10:58 - 11:00through the city center
or through the city. -
11:01 - 11:06If you will, the Greek guy inside of me
feels if I don't get a line, -
11:06 - 11:09it's like entering
the labyrinth of the Minotaur -
11:09 - 11:13without having Ariadne giving you
the string to find your way. -
11:13 - 11:17So the outcome of my academic research,
-
11:17 - 11:23loads of questionnaires, case studies
and looking at a lot of maps, -
11:23 - 11:26was that a lot of the problems
and shortcomings -
11:26 - 11:28of the public transport
system here in Dublin -
11:28 - 11:31was the lack of a coherent
public transport map -- -
11:31 - 11:33a simplified, coherent
public transport map -- -
11:33 - 11:37because I think this is the crucial
step to understanding -
11:37 - 11:40a public transport network
on a physical level, -
11:40 - 11:44but it's also the crucial step to make
a public transport network mappable -
11:44 - 11:46on a visual level.
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11:46 - 11:50So I teamed up with a gentleman
called James Leahy, -
11:50 - 11:54a civil engineer and a recent
master's graduate -
11:54 - 11:57of the Sustainable Development
program at DIT, -
11:57 - 12:01and together we drafted
the simplified model network, -
12:01 - 12:05which I could then go ahead and visualize.
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12:05 - 12:07So here's what we did.
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12:07 - 12:13We distributed these rapid-transport
corridors throughout the city center, -
12:13 - 12:15and extended them into the outskirts.
-
12:16 - 12:22Rapid, because we wanted them to be served
by rapid-transport vehicles. -
12:22 - 12:26They would get exclusive
road use, where possible, -
12:26 - 12:29and it would be high-quantity,
high-quality transport. -
12:29 - 12:31James wanted to use
bus rapid transport for that, -
12:31 - 12:33rather than light rail.
-
12:33 - 12:35For me, it was important
-
12:35 - 12:39that the vehicles that would run
on those rapid transport corridors -
12:39 - 12:44would be visibly distinguishable
from local buses on the street. -
12:45 - 12:48Now we could take out all the local buses
-
12:48 - 12:51that ran alongside
those rapid transport means. -
12:51 - 12:54Any gaps that appeared
in the outskirts were filled again. -
12:54 - 12:58So, in other words,
if there was a street in an outskirt -
12:58 - 13:01where there had been a bus,
we put a bus back in, -
13:01 - 13:05only now these buses wouldn't run
all the way to the city center, -
13:05 - 13:09but connect to the nearest
rapid-transport mode, -
13:09 - 13:11one of these thick lines over there.
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13:11 - 13:14So the rest was merely
a couple of months of work, -
13:14 - 13:16and a couple of fights with my girlfriend,
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13:16 - 13:20of our place constantly
being clogged up with maps, -
13:20 - 13:22and the outcome, one of the outcomes,
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13:22 - 13:25was this map of the Greater Dublin area.
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13:25 - 13:27I'll zoom in a little bit.
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13:29 - 13:33This map only shows the rapid
transport connections, no local bus, -
13:33 - 13:38very much in the "metro map" style
that was so successful in London, -
13:38 - 13:42and that since has been exported
to so many other major cities, -
13:42 - 13:45and therefore is the language
that we should use -
13:45 - 13:47for public transport maps.
-
13:48 - 13:53What's also important is,
with a simplified network like this, -
13:53 - 13:59it now would become possible for me
to tackle the ultimate challenge -
13:59 - 14:02and make a public transport map
for the city center, -
14:03 - 14:06one where I wouldn't just show
rapid transport connections, -
14:06 - 14:09but also all the local bus routes,
streets and the likes, -
14:09 - 14:11and this is what a map
like this could look like. -
14:11 - 14:13I'll zoom in a little bit.
-
14:16 - 14:21In this map, I'm including
each transport mode, -
14:21 - 14:26so rapid transport, bus,
DART, tram and the likes. -
14:26 - 14:32Each individual route
is represented by a separate line. -
14:33 - 14:37The map shows each and every station,
-
14:37 - 14:41each and every station name,
-
14:41 - 14:45and I'm also displaying side streets.
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14:46 - 14:49In fact, most of the side streets
even with their name, -
14:49 - 14:54and for good measure,
also a couple of landmarks, -
14:54 - 14:56some of them signified by little symbols,
-
14:56 - 14:59others by these isometric
three-dimensional -
14:59 - 15:01bird's-eye-view drawings.
-
15:01 - 15:04The map is relatively small
in overall size, -
15:04 - 15:07so something that you could
still hold as a fold-out map -
15:07 - 15:11or display in a reasonably-sized
display box on a bus shelter. -
15:11 - 15:15I think it tries to be the best balance
-
15:15 - 15:19between actual representation
and simplification -- -
15:19 - 15:24the language of way-finding in our brain.
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15:24 - 15:28So, straightened lines,
cleaned-up corners, -
15:28 - 15:31and of course, that very, very
important geographic distortion -
15:31 - 15:35that makes public transport maps possible.
-
15:35 - 15:38If you, for example, have a look
at the two main corridors -
15:38 - 15:41that run through the city --
the yellow and orange one over here -- -
15:41 - 15:44this is how they look in an actual,
accurate street map, -
15:44 - 15:48and this is how they would
look in my distorted, -
15:48 - 15:51simplified public transport map.
-
15:51 - 15:54So for a successful public transport map,
-
15:54 - 15:57we should not stick
to accurate representation, -
15:57 - 15:59but design them in the way
our brains work. -
16:00 - 16:03The reactions I got were tremendous,
it was really good to see. -
16:03 - 16:06And of course, for my own self,
I was very happy to see -
16:07 - 16:10that my folks in Germany and Greece
finally have an idea -
16:10 - 16:11what I do for a living.
-
16:11 - 16:12(Laughter)
-
16:12 - 16:13Thank you.
-
16:13 - 16:16(Applause)
- Title:
- Making sense of maps
- Speaker:
- Aris Venetikidis
- Description:
-
Map designer 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. (Filmed at TEDxDublin)
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 16:36
Krystian Aparta commented on English subtitles for Making sense of maps | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Making sense of maps | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Making sense of maps | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Making sense of maps | ||
Ariana Bleau Lugo accepted English subtitles for Making sense of maps | ||
Ariana Bleau Lugo edited English subtitles for Making sense of maps | ||
Meryl Ducray edited English subtitles for Making sense of maps | ||
Thu-Huong Ha approved English subtitles for Making sense of maps |
Krystian Aparta
The English transcript was updated on 11/6/2015.