Editing Tube map (section)

==History==
===Early maps===
As London's early transport system was operated by a variety of independent companies, there were no complete maps of the network, just for the individual companies' routes. The maps were not typically schematic and were simply the line overlaid on a regular [[city map]]. There was no integration of the companies' services or any co-operation in advertising.

In 1907, ''[[The Evening News (London newspaper)|The Evening News]]'' commissioned a pocket map, The Evening News London "Tube Map". It was the first map to show all of the lines with equal weight being given to each line, and it was the first map to use a different colour for each line.<ref name="1907 color-for-lines map">[http://bryarsandbryars.co.uk/colouring-inside-lines-2/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118223937/http://bryarsandbryars.co.uk/colouring-inside-lines-2/|date=18 November 2016}} from </ref>

Another early combined map was published in 1908 by the [[Underground Electric Railways Company of London]] (UERL) in conjunction with four other underground railway companies that used the "Underground" brand as part of a common advertising factor.<ref name=Lost_Tubes_12>{{cite book |last=Badsey-Ellis |first=Antony |title=London's Lost Tube Schemes |year=2005 |publisher=Capital Transport |isbn=1-85414-293-3 |pages=282–283}}</ref>

[[File:Tube map 1908-2.jpg|thumb|300px|Map of Underground lines, 1908]]
The map showed eight routes&nbsp;– four operated by the UERL and one from each of the other four companies:
* '''UERL lines''':
** [[Baker Street and Waterloo Railway|Bakerloo Railway]]&nbsp;– brown
** [[Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway|Hampstead Railway]]&nbsp;– indigo
** [[Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway|Piccadilly Railway]]&nbsp;– yellow
** [[District Railway]]&nbsp;– green
* '''Other lines''':
** [[Central London Railway]]&nbsp;– blue
** [[City and South London Railway]]&nbsp;– black
** [[Northern City Line|Great Northern and City Railway]]&nbsp;– orange
** [[Metropolitan Railway]]&nbsp;– red

A geographical map presented restrictions since for sufficient clarity of detail in the crowded central area of the map required the extremities of the District and Metropolitan lines to be omitted and so a full network diagram was not provided. The problem of truncation remained for nearly half a century. Although all of the western branches of the District and Piccadilly lines were included for the first time in 1933 with [[Harry Beck]]'s first proper Tube map, the portion of the [[Metropolitan line]] beyond {{lus|Rickmansworth}} did not appear until 1938, and the eastern end of the [[District line]] did not appear until the mid-1950s.

The route map continued to be developed and was issued in various formats and artistic styles until 1920, when, for the first time, the geographic background detail was omitted in a map designed by [[MacDonald Gill]].<ref name="1920 map">[http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clive.billson/tubemaps/1920.html 1920 map] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207141711/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clive.billson/tubemaps/1920.html |date=7 February 2009 }} from {{cite web |title=A History of the London Tube Maps |url=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clivebillson/tube/tube.html |access-date=7 February 2009 |archive-date=15 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070815041850/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clivebillson/tube/tube.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> That freed the design to enable greater flexibility in the positioning of lines and stations. The routes became more stylised but the arrangement remained, largely, geographic in nature. The 1932 edition was the last geographic map to be published before Beck's diagrammatic map was introduced.

===Beck's maps===
The first diagrammatic map of London's rapid transit network was designed by [[Harry Beck]] in 1931.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="1933map"/> He was a London Underground employee who realised that because the railway ran mostly underground, the physical locations of the stations were largely irrelevant to the traveller wanting to know how to get from one station to another; only the [[topology]] of the route mattered. That approach is similar to that of electrical [[circuit diagram]]s although they were not the inspiration for Beck's map. His colleagues pointed out the similarities, however, and he once produced a joke map with the stations replaced by electrical circuit symbols and names, with terminology such as "[[bakelite|Bakerlite]]" for the [[Bakerloo line]].<ref>Train, Omnibus and Tram Staff Magazine, March 1933&nbsp;– {{cite book |last=Garland |first=Ken |title=Mr Beck's Underground Map |publisher=Capital Transport |year=1994 |page=25 |isbn=1-85414-168-6}}</ref>

To that end, Beck devised a simplified map with stations, straight-line segments connecting them, and the [[River Thames]]; and lines running only vertically, horizontally, or on 45° diagonals. To make the map clearer and to emphasise connections, Beck differentiated between ordinary stations, marked with tick marks, and [[interchange station]]s, marked with diamonds. London Underground was initially sceptical of his proposal since it was an uncommissioned spare-time project and was tentatively introduced to the public in a small pamphlet in 1933. However, it immediately became popular, and the Underground has used [[topological map]]s to illustrate the network ever since.

Despite the complexity of making the map, Beck was paid just ten [[guinea (British coin)|guinea]]s for the artwork and design of the card edition (five guineas for the poster).<ref>{{cite book |last=Garland |first=Ken |title=Mr Beck's Underground Map |publisher=Capital Transport |year=2003 |page=19 |isbn=1-85414-168-6}}</ref> After its initial success, he continued to design the Tube map until 1960, a single (and unpopular) 1939 edition by [[Hans Schleger]] being the only exception.<ref name="1939 map">[http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clive.billson/tubemaps/1939.html 1939 map] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070819200738/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clive.billson/tubemaps/1939.html |date=19 August 2007 }} from {{cite web |title=A History of the London Tube Maps |url=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clivebillson/tube/tube.html |access-date=7 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120128181416/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clive.billson/tubemaps/1939.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=28 January 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Garland |first=Ken |title=Mr Beck's Underground Map |publisher=Capital Transport |year=2003 |page=32 |isbn=1-85414-168-6}}</ref> Meanwhile, as well as accommodating new lines and stations, Beck continually altered the design, such as changing the interchange symbol from a diamond to a circle and altering the line colours of the [[Central line (London Underground)|Central line]] from orange to red and of the Bakerloo line from red to brown. Beck's final design, in 1960, bears a strong resemblance to the current map. Beck lived in [[Finchley]], [[North London]], and one of his maps is still preserved on the southbound platform at [[Finchley Central tube station|Finchley Central station]], on the [[Northern line]].<ref>[http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clivebillson/tube/1960.html 1960 map] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021204140243/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clivebillson/tube/1960.html |date=4 December 2002 }} from {{cite web |title=A History of the London Tube Maps |url=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clivebillson/tube/tube.html |access-date=7 February 2009 |archive-date=15 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070815041850/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clivebillson/tube/tube.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1997, Beck's importance was posthumously recognised, and as of 2022, this statement is printed on every Tube map: "This diagram is an evolution of the original design conceived in 1931 by Harry Beck".

===After Beck===
[[File:London Underground Zone 1 Highlighted.svg|thumb|300px|right|alt=Diagram containing several differently-coloured lines connecting nodes that are small hollow black circles. The lines and stations are at geographically accurate positions, with the curved lines drawn more flexibly than on the traditional Tube map. The river is also included, represented as a geographically accurate light blue strip. This map is arguably harder to read.|Unofficial map of [[List of stations in London fare zone 1|fare zone 1]] that shows the approximate geographic locations of the stations and lines.]]

By 1960, Beck had fallen out with the Underground's publicity officer, Harold Hutchison, who was not a designer himself but drafted his own version of the Tube map that year. It removed the smoothed corners of Beck's design and created some highly cramped areas (most notably around [[Liverpool Street station]]), and the lines were generally less straight.<ref>[http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clive.billson/1963.html 1963 map] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070819034035/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clive.billson/1963.html |date=19 August 2007 }} from {{cite web |title=A History of the London Tube Maps |url=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clivebillson/tube/tube.html |access-date=7 February 2009 |archive-date=15 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070815041850/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clivebillson/tube/tube.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, Hutchison also introduced interchange symbols (circles for Underground-only, squares for connections with [[British Rail]] main line services) that were black and allowed multiple lines through them, as opposed to Beck, who used one circle for each line at an interchange, coloured according to the corresponding line.

In 1964, the design of the map was taken over by Paul Garbutt, who, like Beck, had produced a map in his spare time because of his dislike of the Hutchison design. Garbutt's map restored curves and bends to the diagram but retained Hutchison's black interchange circles, although squares were replaced with circles with a dot inside. Garbutt continued to produce Underground maps for at least another 20 years. Tube maps stopped bearing their designer's name in 1986, when the elements of the map then had a very strong resemblance to today's map.<ref>[http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clive.billson/1986.html 1986 map] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070819052721/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clive.billson/1986.html |date=19 August 2007 }} from {{cite web |title=A History of the London Tube Maps |url=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clivebillson/tube/tube.html |access-date=7 February 2009 |archive-date=15 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070815041850/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clivebillson/tube/tube.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
While the standard Tube map avoided representing most mainline services, a new variant of the map issued in 1973, the "London's Railways" map, was the first to depict Tube and above-ground mainline rail services in a diagrammatic style that closely matched Beck's designs. That version was created by Tim Demuth of the London Transport publicity office and was jointly sponsored by British Rail and London Transport. Demuth's map did not replace the standard Tube map but continued to be published as a supplementary resource, later known as the "London Connections" map.<ref name="garland-rail">{{cite book |last=Garland |first=Ken |title=Mr Beck's Underground Map |publisher=Capital Transport |year=1998 |isbn=1-85414-168-6}}</ref>

=== Recent years ===
Some alterations have been made to the map over the years. More recent designs have incorporated changes to the network, such as the [[Docklands Light Railway]] and the [[Jubilee Line Extension|extension]] to the [[Jubilee line]]. The map has also been expanded to include routes brought under [[Transport for London]] control such as [[TfL Rail]] and to note the Tube stops that connect with [[National Rail]] services, links to airports and [[London River Services|River Services]]. In some cases, stations within short walking distance are now shown, often with the distance between them, such as {{rws|Fenchurch Street}}'s distance from {{lus|Tower Hill}} (an evolution of the pedestrian route between [[Bank and Monument stations]], which was once prominently marked on the map). Further, step-free access notations are also incorporated in the current map. In addition, the [[London Underground ticketing#Fare zones|fare zones]] have been added to help passengers judge the cost of a journey. 
One of the major changes to be made to the revision of the Tube map put out in September 2009 was the removal of the [[River Thames]]. The river had been omitted from official maps on several previous occasions (for example, according to David Leboff and Tim Demuth's book, in 1907, 1908 and 1919), and from 1921 it was absent for several years on pocket maps designed by [[MacDonald Gill]]. The Thames-free 2009 version was the first time that the river did not appear on the Tube map since the Stingemore pocket map of 1926. The latest removal resulted in widespread international media attention,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theworld.org/2009/09/18/thames-missing/ |title=Thames missing &#124; PRI's The World |work=The World |date=18 September 2009 |access-date=9 January 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100910044710/http://www.theworld.org/2009/09/18/thames-missing/ |archive-date=10 September 2010}}</ref> and general disapproval from most Londoners as well as from the then [[Mayor of London]], [[Boris Johnson]].<ref>{{cite news |author=Patrick Barkham |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/sep/17/london-new-tube-map-thames |title=New London Tube Map 17 September 2009 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=17 September 2009 |access-date=9 January 2013 |archive-date=13 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140513061645/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/sep/17/london-new-tube-map-thames |url-status=live }}</ref> Based on the reaction, the following edition of the diagram in December 2009 reinstated both the river and fare zones.

In more recent years, TfL has expanded its rail services, notably with the expansion of the [[London Overground]] network, which has taken over a number of National Rail lines and brought them into the TfL network, each of them being converted lines being added to the Tube map. Further additions have been made such as the London Cable Car and the boundaries of fare zones. Some commentators have suggested that Beck's design should be replaced with a new design that can incorporate the new lines more comfortably.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Elledge |first1=Jonn |title=London's iconic tube map is 84 years old. It's time to scrap it |url=http://www.citymetric.com/transport/london-s-iconic-tube-map-84-years-old-it-s-time-scrap-it-1085 |website=[[CityMetric]] |publisher=[[New Statesman]] |access-date=6 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320222952/http://londonist.com/2013/02/will-there-always-be-a-tube-map.php |archive-date=20 March 2015 |date=29 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Pocket map covers ===
{{Main|List of Art on the Underground Tube map covers}}
Since 2004, [[Art on the Underground]] has commissioned various British and international artists to create a cover for the pocket map.<ref name=":42">{{cite news|date=20 March 2009|title=Underground art: London tube map designs|website=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2009/mar/19/underground-art-london-tube-map-designs|access-date=8 February 2021|archive-date=2 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602133607/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2009/mar/19/underground-art-london-tube-map-designs|url-status=live}}</ref> These free maps are one of the largest public art commissions in the UK, with millions of copies printed.<ref name=":03">{{Cite web|title=London Underground: a miniature commission for pocket maps – a-n The Artists Information Company|url=https://www.a-n.co.uk/news/london-underground-a-miniature-commission-for-pocket-maps/|access-date=2020-05-30|archive-date=18 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118183153/https://www.a-n.co.uk/news/london-underground-a-miniature-commission-for-pocket-maps/|url-status=live}}</ref> Over 35 different designs have been produced, from artists such as [[Rachel Whiteread]], [[Yayoi Kusama]], [[Tracey Emin]] and [[Daniel Buren]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Tube Map|url=https://art.tfl.gov.uk/search/Tube%20Map/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-03-22|website=Art on the Underground|archive-date=18 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118141858/https://art.tfl.gov.uk/search/Tube%20Map/}}</ref>