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Published on 10/14/08
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[Ed note: Due to unforeseen legal issues, we cannot offer the 3-D map mentioned in this print article.]
You’re not the only hard-core New Yorker who still gets lost and feels like a jackass. Eddie Jabbour, co-owner of KICK Design, was born and bred in NYC; he lived here for decades before finally getting fed up with the MTA’s “ungraceful” subway map. So he made his own. “We’ve had the current one for 29 years and it serves its purpose, but it’s not friendly,” he says. “It doesn’t celebrate the city. My map is all about celebrating the city.”
His KICK Map, here in print for the first time ever, is a hybrid of approaches: diagrammatic (i.e., a work stylized to the point of abstraction) and topographic (which shows exactly what is above the surface). Below, Jabbour explains the design.
MULTIPLE LINES
“The current MTA map hides the lines on one route,” says Jabbour. “At first, it looks simple. ‘Oh, nice!’ But then when you realize there’s five different lines on one trunk—that’s when you realize, This is nuts. The first IRT map in 1904 had multiple lines, so I added them back in. That way, you can scan your line quickly—you don’t have to read it. No New Yorker wants to be caught looking at the map for a full minute, peering over some old lady and her hat.”
ACCURATE TOPOGRAPHY
“Williamsburg, on the current map, looks like a string of spaghetti. Anyone who lives there will recognize my Williamsburg as the real one.”
CONNECTIONS
“If you live on the Upper West Side and are going to Bushwick, there’s not one train to get you there, and that’s where the MTA’s map fails. On my map, it’s extremely clear where you have to transfer; you’re dealing with three lines. One glance also tells you about off-peak hours and whether you can cross over and go in the opposite direction for free.”
SIMPLIFICATION
“Every station dot has a number or letter. The words are also all horizontal, not diagonal. Both allow all that information to stay where it belongs—next to the station stop—so all that clutter is contained. In the old map, the info about Times Square goes all the way to Ninth Avenue. It’s crazy!”
For a full-blown version of the KICK Map, download a high-res PDF, or visit an exhibition at the Gallery Space @ Wagner in the Puck Building (295 Lafayette St at Jersey St, second floor) starting November 27.
KICK map © KICK DESIGN INC.
TennSeven
Wed, Nov 28, 07, at 12:33pm
This map clearly does not have the N going into Park Slope, nor does it show the E going into Brooklyn. What are you smoking?
Larry Victorson
Sat, Nov 17, 07, at 6:22pm
You know what I mean, Park Slope.
Larry Victorson
Sat, Nov 17, 07, at 5:21pm
Since when the N go to Parkl Slope or the E to Brooklyn?
carol
Wed, Nov 14, 07, at 4:36pm
can i buy one of these maps without going to the Puck Building.
farfel
Wed, Nov 14, 07, at 10:09am
so if the KICK map had been completed, as many of the comments below concluded it was not, then why didn't TONY include THAT link instead??? you would have save people from wasting time making needless comments. anyway, i do think the map is a KICK in the right direction. at the very least the MTA map is responsible for the tourists (and many newcomer-residents, shame on them...) referring to taking the "green line", "red line", "yellow line", etc., which just annoys the hell out of me...
khan
Tue, Nov 13, 07, at 4:48pm
pdf link does not work. fix.
Jimi
Tue, Nov 13, 07, at 11:34am
Seriously, when was the last time a Manhattanite was really confused by the subways (if they are, they have the money to take a cab)? The map is for out-of-towners and B-and-T'ers. Can we please get South Brooklyn, East Queens, and any of the Bronx on here (you've already gone this far... these areas are much less complicated). Forget Staten... the MTA has too.
Also, glad you made Williamsburg geographically correct (not that it isn't on the MTA map, the label is just out of place because the G and J/M/Z lines intersect in the dead center of the neighborhood). In the end this KICK map only shows about 50% of New York and is definitely Manhattan-centric. But if I were coming from out-of-town and saw this map, and had to change from the D to, say, the V, I would be confused looking for another track. Yours doesn't show that they actually run on the same track in Manhattan.
I realize that most of this has been said, but there are a lot of very cool parts of this city that are getting outshined by Manhattan but are great places to live/work/play/raise a family. Taking them off the map altogether, even if it's only "unfinished" (not that I'm really buying that argument) feels like a slap in the face to those of us who live in the other 50% of New York City (actually, population-wise, you map covers less than 25% of NYC).
That said, this is probably the most difficult challenge a cartographer/graphic designer could undertake. I know, I've tried it myself and am still working on my version. But then again, the MTA map, like Democracy, is the best of the worst alternatives. I haven't ever been totally confused by it. Maybe momentarily, but usually it ends up not being the map's fault but the MTA's for making unannounced service changes.
ken
Sat, Nov 10, 07, at 11:21pm
Don't offer something you can't deliver. We need an easier map
AndyT
Sat, Nov 10, 07, at 6:05pm
Yeah that download is neither high res nor a full-blown version of anything.
Hey, here's an idea - TONY must know a thing or two about printing and publishing. Make this a product and I'd buy it.
katy walker
Sat, Nov 10, 07, at 4:31pm
Does anyone read teh omments at timeout ny? its totally missleading. I assume for copyright purposes, the company that spent a million hours doing this map can't just give us the high res complete version of the map. Please include that in the article!
Peter
Fri, Nov 09, 07, at 12:17pm
Eddie Jabbour is far from the first person to think he had a better idea for the subway map (and he certianly won't be the last). If he had to address all the requirements the current subway map has to meet, he might not have had even the sucess he claims for himself. I think 30 years for the current map speaks for itself. It's not like the MTA has not gotten a full return on investment for its design and couldn't afford a new design if they wanted one. Nevertheless after they had a number of knowledgeable people review Jabbour's design they said thanks but no thanks.
Jeremy
Fri, Nov 09, 07, at 12:16pm
'Bout time someone stepped up! But where is Northern Manhattan? It reminds me of the old Flash Maps where the island is cut off above Harlem
Rob
Fri, Nov 09, 07, at 11:23am
This is not high res and this is not a full map of NYC.
Why?
And why does everyone in comments seem to think that the map just hasn't been finished? This is just another Manhattan-centric view of NYC. BS.
Full map here:
http://www.kickmap.com/pages/7_wholemap_comparison.html
kevin
Fri, Nov 09, 07, at 11:14am
What a tough crowd this is! The map is a real help for me. Like the other's say (not so delicately) the next step is to expand it to the rest of nyc and find someone who can print it hi-res.
Gil
Thu, Nov 08, 07, at 11:58pm
This is a "hi-res" PDF? Why not just say "Download a version of the map that's been converted into a 72 DPI GIF and then reconverted into a PDF"?
Dennis
Thu, Nov 08, 07, at 9:57pm
Link to the PDF doesn't work for me. I get
The webpage cannot be found
HTTP 404
Most likely causes:
There might be a typing error in the address.
If you clicked on a link, it may be out of date.
What you can try:
Retype the address.
Go back to the previous page.
Go to and look for the information you want.
Brandon
Thu, Nov 08, 07, at 12:04pm
Wow...yeah...to parrot what others have been posting, this is perhaps the most worthless map I've seen. Don't get me wrong...I was excitedto see it, and thought it was a good idea. But if you're not going to allow my neighborhood to grace your map, then you can go fondle Hillary's d!ck like all the rest of the hipsters in Brooklyn.
Add Washington Heights, add Inwood, add The Bronx. Please.
chris
Thu, Nov 08, 07, at 11:18am
would have been much more useful to have included the WHOLE city, not just manhattan (minus wash hts and inwood) and what's immediately across the river. i mean -- who even needs a subway map of manhattan?? please extend to include the outter bouroughs, where a map like this really matters. thanks.
Tom S
Thu, Nov 08, 07, at 8:49am
You are obviously using some definition of "full-blown version" that I'm not familiar with. Where I come from, "full-blown" does not mean the same thing has "half-assed".
karo
Thu, Nov 08, 07, at 8:46am
nice job! Only that I believe the multiple lines for trains [ex. 4,5,6] decrease the simplicity. The consideration of other graphical solutions might have lead to more visual clarity [ex. different line stroke sizes]. Still I love it and would love to know where to get a high-resolution copy of the map.
JJ
Wed, Nov 07, 07, at 11:47pm
I NEED THIS MAP!
Where can I get a copy that includes all the boroughs?
