Brooklyn Man Creates 'Complete & Geographically Accurate' NYC Subway Map

Here's another entry in time-honored tradition of trying to re-envision the NYC subway map: Brooklyn cartographer Andrew Lynch created what he believes to be a "complete and geographically accurate" look at the nearly 113-year-old transit system.

On his website, Lynch explains he made the map after "collecting every historical map I could find, using GIS data, satellite imagery (both current and historic), YouTube videos of fan trips, my own observations looking out the window of trains through tunnels, and talking to retired track workers." The bulk of the project took months to complete, but he actually started on it years ago.

In an interview, Lynch told us:

I decided to make this map because I was trying to better understand how the system really exists. I was tinkering with some ideas for my futureNYCSubway project and found that I needed a better way to show how the new lines interfaced with the existing system. I had made track diagrams before but it occurred to me that if they weren't geographically accurate then what I was proposing might not be feasible. So I started making small sections of the map but realized quickly I'd eventually need the entire system.

...I've been collecting maps and plans of the subway since before I moved here almost 12 years ago. I didn't start activity drawing this map until about 6 months ago when it became an obsession. But I used what I had collected over the years to fill in the details.

Another feature of the map is that it outlines abandoned sections. Lynch said, "Abandoned stations and tracks are fascinating to even non-railfans, and I'd never found a map which showed what was really there.

"What I hope is that this helps people understand the system better and see it differently. I'm always talking to people about why you can't run certain trains certain places and with a track map you can more clearly understand how it really works," he added. And on Reddit, he said, "It's not map for getting from A to B but for understanding the tracks in the system to see how trains can run."

Asked about his favorite user-generated subway maps, Lynch cited Max Roberts's concentric circle subway map and the Japanese design "where the entire map is in the shape of a heart... I love maps that get whimsical with the system."

Lynch, who lives in Brooklyn, is a regular G train rider. "People always complain about the G but that's probably because they used it once 10 years ago," he contends. "It's gotten much better since."

As for the granddaddy of subway maps, Massimo Vignelli's 1972 NYC Transit design, Lynch says he has an original "given to me by a friend when he was cleaning out a late relative's apartment. I'll never forget first seeing that map in my Design 101 class freshman year of college and thinking what a mess it was. I still think it's a failure of a map, but you can't deny its impact."

Next up for Lynch is an update to his futureNYCSubway project. "I'm always looking for more realistic proposals given how expensive​ it is to build in New York," he said.