For some journeys it's really not worth getting on the tube: it takes a long time, and costs you money. Sometimes it's quicker and easier to walk.
For instance: Leicester Square is only 250m from Covent Garden; Charing Cross to Embankment is about 300m; Chancery Lane to Farringdon by tube requires two changes and 4 stations. Mansion House to Bank: change once, 6 stops - as noted by Bill Bryson in Notes From a Small Island (though you could walk to Bank districtline, aka Monument, and go in two stops, but his point is still well made). Possibly, even Finchley Road to Hampstead (change twice, 9 stops) could be walked in half an hour, although what neither the standard tube map nor the A-Z map will tell you is that it's up a steep hill.
One of the very few weaknesses of the standard tube map is that its distortion of geography (a very successful attempt to present the different stations and lines more clearly) sometimes means that it's not clear when the tube trip is unnecessary. This has been discussed on Edward Tufte's site and in many other places, and there are geographically corrected versions of the map.
But here's a slightly altered map showing which stations are an arbitrary and as-the-crow-flies 500 metres apart from each other (there are many more stations 600, 700+ metres from each other). It doesn't look great yet, and definitely reduces the readability of the standard tube map at the moment, which isn't a good thing. So it's not an improvement on the map, but it's an interesting exercise.
- tube map with 500m walklines dotted in (warning: it's a large 429k gif file, pdf to follow possibly. Nb: our photo album constrains the size of the picture, so click the big versions of these pictures if you want to see them full size); big version here. The dense knots are Euston-Warren Street-Gt Portland St in Bloomsbury and Bank-Cannon St-Mansion House-St Paul's in the city. And these are interesting places to walk anyway.
- And here's the same with the tube map faded out slightly, so you see the walklines more easily. (232k gif); big version here.
- And indeed it might be interesting, for arty folk, to see the walklines without the original tube map behind it. They look like un-named constellations (20k gif); big version here.
- The original tube map used is here (385k gif), and is obviously copyright Transport For London.
Update: Added the bigger versions. Found some more accurate station-to-station distances at Diamond Geezer, who reminds us that you can get this info from the TfL route planner. Also: MUDLondon, muxway, geo-wanking and Antimega are all good for geo/mapping stuff. And Owen Massey has the mother-lode of tube map variants, versions and varia. London Open Guides's Adjacent Stations is a list of stations where you can walk in 15min or less.
Fantastic. Where have you got the distances from? The same geo database as Jo's MudLondon?
I'm surprised London Bridge to Monument is over 500m... guess it depends which exits you use ;)
Posted by: Chris | October 05, 2003 at 11:09 PM
Nope, the low-tech method was painstakingly eye-balling the tube map and the A-Z. So there will be errors.
Thanks for pointing to mudlondon. http://space.frot.org/mudlondon.html ? - it could have improved map-making speed and accuracy (but... any hours spent buried in those two maps are time still well-spent as far as we're concerned).
And where can non-geos find all the good stuff happening in geo-world?
Posted by: rodcorp | October 06, 2003 at 12:40 AM
Umm, muxway.org hoovers up many of the links floating around, the geowanking mailing list (and archive), and of course my link list!
I've thought of something else that would help walkers: add in walkable bridges. If the riverboats accepted travelcards, I'd say add those in too. But they don't.
Posted by: Chris | October 06, 2003 at 07:24 PM
hey Chris, thanks for these links.
Like the bridge idea (and would have included Embankment to Waterloo, an old favourite, except it was over the arbitrary 500m...); and also something mapping the lengths of the sub-surface connections. Some are cross-platform, some seen to be miles of tunnel and escalator.
Oh... just seen your bus spider map. Very nice.
http://undergroundlondon.com/antimega/archives/000548.html
Posted by: rodcorp | October 06, 2003 at 10:11 PM
Nice work! Where can I get one?
Posted by: Joshua Kaufman | October 06, 2003 at 10:21 PM
Awesome work. Just one problem I have though, I can't see the names of the stations well enough to be able to transcribe them to my own map. Do you have a larger version avaliable?
Thanks muchly.
rob.
Posted by: Rob Birnie | October 07, 2003 at 05:43 AM
Fantastic stuff.
As an expat the very sight of a London Underground map almost brings a tear to my eye, love what you've done with it.
Interesting to see on the geographically corrected map you link to the huge white space that is Hackney and East London. Not the only area of London suffering poor Underground connections, but surely one of the largest and most densely populated. From Finsbury Pk in the West to Leyton in the East, from Bethnal Green in the South to Tottenham Hale in the North there is nothingness.
Posted by: Dr Headgear | October 07, 2003 at 09:39 AM
Paddington to Edgeware Roaad is surely <500m? But great idea.
Posted by: Jim | October 07, 2003 at 12:23 PM
I'd love to see a version of this done for the London Connections map - that's the one that includes *all* the suburban train and tram lines.
Posted by: David Gerard | October 07, 2003 at 04:55 PM
The map seems to be missing Barbican to Old Street walklines. To get from Barbican to Old Street by tube would require a change and several stops but it's only a 5-10 minute walk down Old Street itself.
Posted by: JOe | October 08, 2003 at 09:10 AM
Very interesting if you live in London
Have you tried the game
Mornington Crescent
Posted by: roger | October 12, 2003 at 06:33 PM
How about these walks:
Hanger Lane to Park Royal
West Ruislip to Ickenham
Posted by: Aidan | October 30, 2003 at 07:05 PM
I was checking out your Tube Map with walk lines, after being alerted to its existence via Annie Mole's goingingunderground.net website. Would you mind if I make a suggestion regarding the "big version" of the maps? The way your html is currently coded only about the upper left quadrant is viewable - there is no way to scroll to any other part of the map (at least on IE 6.x). If you get rid of the height and width specification for the image, the entire map can be viewed by being able to resize the browser window and/or using the scroll bars.
Just a suggestion.
Cheers
Douglas
Posted by: Douglas Johnson | December 22, 2003 at 08:22 PM
Interesting map, but White City - Latimer Road shouldn't be a walkline (the route you do have to walk is ridiculously circuitous). Journey Planner suggests it's 22 minutes walking fast!
Posted by: Will Dyke | December 27, 2003 at 11:14 AM
Nice...I'm gonna have to study this for my trip to london...
Posted by: Baby sleep | January 24, 2004 at 02:07 AM
Innouncement!!!
Posted by: Meban | February 20, 2004 at 12:48 PM
In the late 90s, I remember seeing some attractive maps portraying the routes of some underground lines from 'overground'. These were full colour reproductions of hand-painted originals, and were displayed at low-level - usually near the sliding doors. The one I best remember was of the Piccadilly line; it showed some of the West End landmarks (Albert Hall, etc) with the route fading to the northern horizon at Cockfosters. Very nice.
Anyone know if these are available online?
Thanks for a great site.
Posted by: Steve Jones | July 13, 2004 at 08:16 PM
The walk from Holloway Road to Highbury and Islington is pretty much the same distance as Euston to King's Cross; so should also be included on your map.
Posted by: Steve Jobs | December 31, 2004 at 04:48 PM
Well I would like to see a walkline from Manor House to Finsbury Park stations (yes I know they're on the same line but if you have 10 minutes to spare on your jounrey you can break it by taking a stroll through the park -the station exits for both stations are right next to Finsbury Park).
Oh another (slightly OT) thing that very few people know - the nearest tube station to Regents Park Zoo is?
Camden Town! The tranquility of Regents Park is five minutes walk from that mad melting pot that is Camden Town. Bet you didn't know that!
Posted by: Pete S | January 05, 2005 at 01:31 PM
Dear Rod
Heard about your map on the BBC London News at 6.30 p.m. this evening and immediately looked it up. I think you have done a fantastic job and wish I had thought of the idea!
Might I take the liberty of suggesting a few additional walks between stations?
1): Snaresbrook (Central Line Epping branch) to Wanstead
(Central Line Hainault Loop)
2): Old Street to Liverpool Street - through the Broadgate complex, this is a lot quicker than going by train via Moorgate
3): Cutty Sark and Island Gardens (Docklands Light Railway) through the Greenwich foot tunnel
Slightly longer walks but "do-able" is you are reasonably fit are:-
4): Edgware (Northern Line) to Canons Park (Jubilee Line)
5): Buckhurst Hill (Central Line Epping branch) to Roding Valley (Central Line Hainault Loop)
6): Angel (Northern Line) to Highbury & Islington (Victoria Line and National Rail) via Upper Street.
I hope these suggestions are of interest to you.
Sincerely
David Bosher
Posted by: David Bosher | June 10, 2005 at 07:44 PM
Jeez thanks man. To think I can actually WALK instead of getting the TUBE!! WHO'D HAVE THOUGHT IT!
Posted by: Paulskinback | July 01, 2005 at 10:45 AM
Hi, it's a great idea and very usable. If you're thinking of improving it, it would be great not to take as-the-crowd-flies measures of distance, but actual walking distances...
Posted by: Nica | February 02, 2006 at 05:14 AM
Hi
How come you don't have Monument to London Bridge marked? I'd say its quicker to jump off at Monument if you are on the circle/district and need London Bridge, rather than change on to the Northern. And its definitely a lovely walk across the river.
Posted by: Millie | February 20, 2006 at 05:30 PM
Hiya,
first of all, this is a great idea! And im very pleased you didnt miss out the Kensal Green,Kensal Rise walk-line.
But (as there always is one) it would be good to bear in mind for the future to make one of this map:
http://www.studyglobal.net/images/london_train_tube_map.gif
it has all the trains, the zones and a ket to all the stations.
Just a thought
Dan
Posted by: Dan | March 17, 2006 at 02:52 PM
Just a thought: although it's nice to have as many connections as possible, I think the greatest value the walklines provide is from connections between lines.
So, to reduce the amount of clutter, how about only including the walklines that provide a connection between tube lines?
Posted by: Juhana Siren | August 24, 2006 at 08:09 AM
Thanx for this!!....moving to london and it's relly coming in handy!!
Posted by: candice keith | January 10, 2007 at 08:22 AM
I've always lived in London and walking between stations is something I've done day in and day out... Its nice to see it actually shown on a map!
Posted by: Kun Dang | August 23, 2007 at 11:30 AM
Folk might be interested in this map > http://www.quickmap.com/shop4.htm .
The Tube map links stations, street atlases links street but the all London Travel Planner links localities.
Posted by: Andrew Sutton | October 30, 2007 at 07:08 AM
Actually, the main reason for all the stations being closer together on the tube map was initially due to the growth in suburban areas after WW2.
It was to convice people that living further outside the overcrowded slums of the city centre was not to miss out on being in London. This is why stations say in zone 4, take about 3-4 mins between and stations in zone 1 only take about 1.5-2 mins.
The reason that you can (for example) see Bayswater station from Queesway is due to the fact that once upon a time several train operators all ran and built their own lines and competed. Unfortunately, this means that there are scores of underground stations around the city that have closed over the years. If you keep your eyes open, you can usually spot them.
Posted by: Rachelle | December 14, 2007 at 03:12 PM
Hi there.
Enjoyed the map. Now London Overground is being promoted, it would be great to see all of that on there (next time you update the map?), as some of the northerly parts cross right over tube lines without interchange. The Gospel Oak to Barking line, for example.
Cheers
Alan
Posted by: Alan Hart | January 23, 2008 at 09:27 AM
Hi Alan, yeah it's probably due for an update, though the new map is now so cluttered that I'd really hate to add any more ink to it.
Posted by: Rod McLaren | January 23, 2008 at 09:47 AM
Link rot has set in on "owen.massey.net". Here's the Wayback Machine version circa 29 Sep.2007 :
http://web.archive.org/web/20070929161045/http://owen.massey.net/tubemaps.html
Posted by: Ted King | March 12, 2010 at 03:10 AM
Hi great article thanks for sharing. Do you reckon I can walk from London Victoria to London Paddington station in 53 mins?
Posted by: Bond | August 01, 2010 at 04:42 PM
I don't know, spammer Bond, how fast do you walk?
Posted by: rodcorp | August 03, 2010 at 06:53 PM
If you get rid of the height and width specification for the image, the entire map can be viewed by being able to resize the browser window and/or using the scroll bars.
Posted by: NFL Jerseys | August 21, 2010 at 01:35 AM
Like the bridge idea (and would have included Embankment to Waterloo, an old favourite, except it was over the arbitrary 500m...); and also something mapping the lengths of the sub-surface connections. Some are cross-platform, some seen to be miles of tunnel and escalator.
Posted by: new york city walking tours | September 14, 2010 at 06:19 PM
I know that in Tokyo metro it is always written how far it is walking to the next station, so you can decide for yourself if to take the tube or to walk :) Great information! I do think that the London metro is one amazing business success!
Posted by: online Forex broker | September 17, 2010 at 10:10 AM
You can find an animation showing the tube map morph into a real underground map, and into Beck's original 1933 map at: www.fourthway.co.uk/tfl.html
Posted by: Sam | January 23, 2011 at 12:11 PM