Schematic expert Maxwell J. Roberts has completely redrawn his “London Circles” map to show the current London Underground network and associated lines, and it’s even better than ever before, and more geographically accurate than the official standard TfL journey planner.
Yes, we know it’s not comics – but it is art – and how could we not cover this, with our site name?
A South Londoner born and bred, Maxwell J. Roberts obtained degrees in psychology from the University of Nottingham. His focus is on how people interpret information, and why this can result in reasoning errors. People approach tasks in different ways, and investigating this has always been a feature of his research.
“My interest in why some people tend to better at inferences than others led me to address the issue of individual differences in intelligence,” he says.
After his PhD, he taught for a year each at the Universities of Newcastle upon Tyne and St Andrews, then joined the new Department of Psychology at the University of Essex in 1993. Since then, he’s done many things, including writing Underground Books after Beck (2005), inspired by the creator of the London Underground map that is the basis for today’s Transport for London official offering, Harry Beck, and Underground Maps Unravelled (2012).
“Travel to Central London usually involved lengthy trips by bus or antiquated British Rail trains, and a trip by Underground was a rare event,” he recalls. “To a small boy, the experience was almost Tolkienesque, with entry to the depths via impossibly deep escalators, seemingly endless passages with mystery forbidden corridors gated off at every corner, and giant subterranean serpents howling through the dark tunnels.
“The map also caught my attention: simple, clear, organised, calm, logical – and such a contrast to the apparent mayhem underground. Even at a young age I saw that older designs were different, and I quickly found out that the results of trying to pencil in proposed new lines and extensions never quite looked right: designing a map is not always easy. Underground maps are free and compact, and so my collection grew.
“Fast forward 30 years, and I have observed that newer designs are less pleasing to me than older ones, and I begin to wonder why. I have treated myself to a copy of Mr Beck’s Underground Map by Ken Garland, finding out that the future will be even worse, with network expansion resulting in previously simple straight lines becoming bent and twisted. I wonder whether this is inevitable, but rather than sit back and complain, I decide to have a go myself.”
The results are truly impressive – even if some have spotted a certain familiarity in the design to that of Moonbase Alpha from Space: 1999!
• You can buy a copy of London Circles 2024 here on the TubeMapCentral shop
• Maxwell J. Roberts is online at tubemapcentral.com
This item was updated with a Version 2D of Maxwell’s 2024 map on Friday 9th August, posted here on X
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Art and Illustration, downthetubes News, Other Worlds
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I know it is meant to be a ‘tube map’ but it seriously lacks travel information if it is to improve reasoning, spatial and topographical awareness and be useful/better to routeing, as claimed. As it includes overground and trams, it could really do with a few key rail lines to make sense. Take my neck of the woods in south-east greater London, Penge/Beckenham. Given how poorly served the area is by tubes i.e. NONE (the Bakerloo line extension has been talked about for years but now shelved or at best mooted for Lewisham in the 2030s) I would have thought some judicious inclusion of rail routes would be sensible – particular up to zone 4 for the obvious and significant commuter routes. There is Victoria to Penge East to Beckenham to Bromley, with important interchanges along its length. There is even a whole line dedicated to Hayes (terminating there and effectively an intermittent tube route by proxy) from London Bridge via New Beckenham and Clock House. I know it is difficult deciding which rail routes (if any) should be included but given routes to Croydon and Orpington figure, I think Beckenham, Bromley etc should be there given there are no tube lines and limited overground – in fact Thameslink is included so I think crucial rail links could be too. As Maxwell is from ‘South London’ according to your article then the omission of important data ‘our side’ of the river is unforgivable! LOL 🙂