Tube Map Central Writing on Map Design: Academic Works

Writing on Map Design: Major Academic Works

These include papers published in refereed journals, book chapters, and conference and workshop papers.

Roberts, M.J. (2025). Round in Circles and Back Again: Concentric Circles Maps Twelve Years On. Schematic Mapping Workshop 2025, EIVP, Paris, April.
Workshop position paper. A review of the history, design techniques, usability, impact and utility of transit maps based upon concentric circles and spokes. My two London designs from 2013 and 2024 form the foundation of the discussion, which also applies my framework for effective design in order to consider differences in how successfully different designs depict their networks.
Roberts, M.J., Ng, D., & Baruela, C. (2025). Using forced-journey choice methodology to investigate the usability of octolinear Versus concentric circles transit maps. Schematic Mapping Workshop 2025, EIVP, Paris, April.
Workshop paper. A study that investigates why transit maps based on concentric circles and spokes are unpopular when tested in the laboratory. Subjects were given a task in which they were asked to choose between pairs of highlighted routes. The results suggest that the combination of curved segments and complex line trajectories makes it difficult for people to plan plausible journeys.
Roberts, M.J. (2023). Objective and Subjective Methods for Evaluating the Usability of Schematic Maps: The Case Against Informal Expert Assessments. The Cartographic Journal, 60, 308-325.
Refereed journal paper. Should we trust someone with expertise in cartography, design or psychology to be able to just look at a transit map informally and decide whether it will be easy to use or difficult to use? From the evidence so far, I suggest that we should be very careful before accepting subjective evaluations of experts, including myself!
Wu, H.-Y., Niedermann, B., Takahashi, S., Roberts, M.J., & Nöllenburg, M. (2020). A survey on transit map layout — from design, machine, and human perspectives. Computer Graphics Forum (Proceedings of EuroVis 2020), Vol. 39, No. 3.
Conference state-of-the-art paper. An international multidisciplinary collaboration that discusses the state of the art of transit map research, looking at design, computer automation and human (usability testing) approaches, common ground between the three and future research challenges.
Roberts, M.J. (2019). The decade of diagrams. Schematic Mapping Workshop 2019, TU Wien, April.
Workshop position paper. A survey of the unprecedented burst of schematised network maps during the 1930s, arguing that their shear quantity and diversity could just as likely result from the forces of modernism sweeping the world, as the Anglocentric view that designers discovered schematision techniques via Beck’s London design.
Roberts, M.J. (2019). Us versus them: Ensuring practical and psychological utility of measurements of schematic map usability. Schematic Mapping Workshop 2019, TU Wien, April.
Workshop position paper. Discusses the various ways of objectively measuring usability, their utility and underlying assumptions, and the importance of reconciling these with user ratings and preferences. New ways of measuring usability that might bridge the divide are described.
Lloyd P.B., Rodgers P., & Roberts M.J. (2018). Metro map colour-coding: Effect on usability in route tracing. In: P. Chapman, G. Stapleton, A. Moktefi, S. Perez-Kriz, & Bellucci F. (eds.) Diagrammatic Representation and Inference (Proceedings of Diagrams 2018: 10th International Conference, Edinburgh, June), Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 10871 , (pp 411-428). Berlin: Springer Verlag.
Refereed conference paper. First report on a large usability study investigating line colour coding methods and the navigational hazards of layout configuration.
Newton, E.J., & Roberts M.J. (2018). Concentric circles maps: Data and Implications. Diagrams 2018: 10th International Conference, Edinburgh, June.
Refereed conference paper. Highlights issues arising from usability studies concerning matching design design rules to network structure and appropriate measurement of usability.
Roberts, M.J. (2017). Digitising schematic maps: Recreating or reinventing history? Second International Workshop on Exploring Old Maps (EOM 2017), Universität Würzburg, April.
Workshop paper. A short discussion of the potential benefits and pitfalls that arise when investigating historic schematic maps by recreating them using vector graphics software.
Roberts, M.J., Gray, H., & Lesnik, J. (2017). Preference versus performance: Investigating the dissociation between objective measures and subjective ratings of usability for schematic metro maps and intuitive theories of design. International Journal of Human Computer Studies, 98,
109-128.
Refereed journal paper. My large-scale internet survey of opinions on usability and design is now published, along with related experiments looking at Paris Metro and Berlin U-Bahn maps. The findings on intuitive theories of design are particularly interesting.
Roberts, M.J. (2017). From reasoning and intelligence research to information design: Understanding and optimising the usability and acceptability of schematic transit maps. In N.D. Galbraith, E. Lucas & D. Over (eds.), The thinking mind: A festschrift for Ken Manktelow (pp. 178-190). Hove, UK: Psychology Press.
Book chapter. A review of psychological findings on reasoning and intelligence that are relevant to theories of effective schematic map design.
Roberts, M.J., Newton, E.J., & Canals, M. (2016). Radi(c)al departures: Comparing conventional octolinear versus concentric circles schematic maps for the Berlin U-Bahn/S-Bahn networks using objective and subjective measures of effectiveness. Information Design Journal, 22, 92-115.
Refereed journal paper. The first usability test conducted on a concentric circles map. In terms of journey planning, this design performed poorly, but this study also develops the journey planning methodology further, and provides some important insights into the relationship between subjective opinions on usability, and objective measurements of this.
Roberts, M.J., & Rose, D. (2016). Map-induced journey-planning biases for a simple network:
A Docklands Light Railway study. Transportation Research A, 94, 446-460.
Refereed journal paper. A large-scale usability study of several Docklands Light Railway prototype train maps. This used a touch-screen methodology and there were several important findings concerning usability ratings, task accuracy, and journey choices influenced by map configuration.
Roberts, M.J., & Vaeng, I.C.N. (2016). Expectations and prejudices usurp judgements of schematic map effectiveness. In: P. Lloyd & E. Bohemia (eds.), Proceedings of DRS2016: Design + Research + Society — Future-Focused Thinking, Volume 8, pp 2343-2359, DOI 10.21606/drs.2016.123.
Refereed conference paper. This paper reports research comparing the usability of two maps
from a large-scale internet rating study. Of these, the map with the worse ratings yielded
the better planning performance!
Roberts, M.J. (2014). What’s your theory of effective schematic map design? Schematic Mapping Workshop 2014, University of Essex, April.
Workshop position paper. A discussion of the importance of lay-theories of design in determining people’s evaluation and creation of schematic maps. This also includes a preliminary analysis of my internet survey of usability and aesthetic ratings of nine alternative London Underground maps, and an overview of various prescriptions, theories, and frameworks for effective design.
Roberts, M.J. (2014). Schematic maps in the laboratory. Schematic Mapping Workshop 2014, University of Essex, April.
Workshop position paper. A review of empirical work that investigated schematic map usability, and some of the difficulties that must be overcome in conducting such research.
Roberts, M.J., Newton, E.J., Lagattolla, F.D., Hughes, S., & Hasler, M.C. (2013). Objective versus subjective measures of Paris Metro map usability: Investigating traditional octolinear versus all-curves schematic maps. International Journal of Human Computer Studies, 71, 363-386.
Refereed journal paper. The curvilinear map was 50% faster for journey planning than the official octolinear map. Objective and subjective measures of usability were not correlated. The octolinearity = gold standard conjecture is refuted by these findings.
Fink, M., Haverkort, H., Nöllenburg, M., Roberts, M.J., Schuhmann, J., & Wolff, A. (2013). Drawing metro maps using Bézier curves. In W. Didmo & M. Patrignani (eds.), Graph Drawing 2012, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 7704 , pp 463-474. Berlin: Springer Verlag.
Refereed conference paper. A collaboration with researchers from The Netherlands and Germany looking at automated methods for creating curvilinear maps.