....Mark Ovenden has scoured the globe, in his delightful book, to find the descendants of Harry Beck's London Underground map... -- The Observer, December 7 2003
...a beautifully illustrated study of the plans that help passengers navigate the world's metropolitan railway systems... -- The Times, November 1 2003
...a delightful new rainy-day book... -- The Guardian, November 11 2003
...an object lesson in information design.... -- Wallpaper Magazine, June 2004
...like a Conde naste traveller magazine for jetsetters with subterranean tendancies... -- Metro, July 12 2004
This great new edition is even more comprehensive than the last and includes some recently unearthed rarities plus many new contemporary diagrams from across the globe. An excellent companion to Mr Becks Underground Map by Ken Garland which focuses exclusively on the development of the London Underground map. Metro Maps Of The World unashamedly takes Mr Beck's diagram as a standard by which other subway maps can be held up against, whilst celebrating the diversity and ingenuity of designers worldwide.
From the Author
After being inspired by the London Underground diagram I began collecting subway maps from all over the world. Friends often asked if they could borrow them - I wondered why there was nowhere you could go to see all of them together in one place. Then I started a two year quest to write to the operators of every metro system in the world and seek permission to reproduce their official map in a book. I enlisted the help of Greek, Spanish, German, French and Russian friends to help translate into some of the many languages I needed but had to ask an Indian restaurant for the Hindi and the Chinese Embassy for Mandarin translations! Some systems dont even have official maps they hand out to the public but this unique book lists over 200 existing or planned mass rapid transit cities - Mark Ovenden
From the Inside Flap
Millions use them on a daily basis. They are common as Coke cans in virtually every developed urban area on the planet and they have become the most memorised cartographic items in the world. Maps, diagrams and plans of Subways, Metro's, Undergrounds or U-Bahns have even become the mental substitute for geographic layout or in some cases icons for the city itself.
This is the first comprehensive collection of current official maps or diagrams of every metro system in the world.
