1
2
3
4
5
Maps
in the News: St. Petersburg, Russia
The
Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC)
includes over 140,000 maps, over 3,000 atlases from around the world, and other
cartographic resources available for research and learning. One of the unique cartographic resources is
the is the book, Transit Maps of the
World, by Mark Ovenden.
The
book was published in 2003 and includes public transit maps from 97 cities
around the world. “This book celebrates
the diversity of rail-based transit systems in urban environments by collecting…their
cartographic evolution.” One of the
transit systems included in the book is the St. Petersburg Metro.
According
to the book, in 2003 St. Petersburg had an urban population of 4.7 million
people. The length of the route is 64.7
miles. There are 54 stations, and the
first section was opened in 1955. Nearly
58% of the system is underground. The
Metro claims some of the world’s longest escalators due to the depth of the
tunnels.
The
stations in the St. Petersburg system are ostentatiously decorated (second only
to Moscow). “Metro Line 1 was as much an
art and architecture exhibition” when it opened in 1955 “as a public transit
system.”
“Lines
1 to 3 were mostly completed by the early 1970’s, as seen on a commemorative
poster from 1975 (4, above—click to enlarge).
There were a few extensions afterward (1), but the first part of the
orange Line 4 only opened in 1985 (2) and was extended at either end in the
1990’s (3), when signs of the current diagram can be detected. The current diagram shows the popular “M” logo
that can be seen all over the city (5).
For
more information about using cartographic resources for research and learning,
please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.
No comments:
Post a Comment