4

I would like to draw a transit map which is not based on any real map.

Unlike conventional maps, transit maps are usually not geographically accurate—instead they use straight lines and fixed angles, and often illustrate a fixed distance between stations, compressing those in the outer area of the system and expanding those close to the center.

This map would be massive, not infinite but if a line ran horizontally across it could ideally have 40,075 stations. I want it to look just like any local transit map (I'm basing myself on the Montreal metro map) but much bigger obviously, which means I don't care about what a metro system of this scale should look like or how useless a map this size would be.

I think the hardest part will be to generate where the stations will be, then drawing stylized lines between those stations should be relatively easy using something like Processing.

So, do you have any idea how to generate a giant transit map???

So far, the research

Nathan Hellinga's Processing.py subway map generator resembles what I'm looking for and looks great but the algorithm wouldn't scale well to a very large grid.

Jannis Redmann's generating transit map theory is really interesting but bases itself on real world data. Maybe it could be used with generated data but how do you generate that data then?

My idea, a random walker

Basically, roll some dice and based on a predefined set of rules: go forward, place a station, turn... and repeat countless times until the map is filled. I'm not yet sure what the probabilities would be, it would take some trial and error.

Results of another question I asked on Worldbuilding

Fractal generators loos really promising! But how do I make it look like a transit map? I think it relates to the slime (see below) so I'll look more into it.

Graphviz, an open-source tool that converts DOT script files into graphical images. I think that has the same problem as Jannis Redmann's, I still need an algorithm to generate data.

Slime is a really interesting idea! I would have to do some more research on how to reproduce these patterns but it's an interesting place to start.

Hugo
  • 349
  • 3
  • 6
  • 23
  • 1
    My first thought would be to use the wave function collapse algorithm to do it: http://www.procjam.com/tutorials/wfc/ – gct Jan 08 '20 at 22:42
  • Just a note: The random walker as you described it, is not going to generate subway-like paths. It will -instead- generate something like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_walk#/media/File:Random_walk_2000000.png – adelriosantiago Jan 09 '20 at 19:20
  • @adelriosantiago Well that's a random walker with even probabilities of going in any direction. I'd have to skew those probabilities to get subway-like paths of course. – Hugo Jan 09 '20 at 20:02
  • 2
    It strikes me that both the graphical output and computational problem space should be the same as that encountered in through-hole printed circuit board design, for which there would be a great deal more popular usage and software. – Orwellophile Jan 27 '22 at 16:40

0 Answers0