I hate, hate, hate commuting in London. But even so, Underground maps are still cool.

The tube map is a classic icon, although it's well known to have no relationship to the aboveground geography of London. As Bill Bryson said,

An out-of-town visitor using Mr.Beck's map to get from, say, Bank Station to Mansion House would quite understandably board a Central Line train to Liverpool Street, transfer to the Circle Line and continue for another five stops to Mansion House and emerge 200 yards down the street from where he started.

Owen Massey has put together a thorough listing of Tube maps. I like this geographically accurate one, which morphs the existing map to position the stations and trains in the right places, but even coolor is this one which overlays that same geographically accurate map onto a satellite photo.

Also cool is this interactive, 3-D map that morphs between the standard, current tube map, a geographically accurate version, and the original 1933 map.

I was turned on to these by an article in Londonist.

You are the 1926 Stingemore Map! This small and compact map is fairly geographically accurate, but unfortunately there are no places of interest, although the river makes its first appearence. Fishing anyone?

Which London Underground Map Are You?

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