Nöllenburg and Terziadis – COMPUTING DATA-DRIVEN MULTILINEAR METRO MAPS 2023

Description

The paper introduces anchored metro maps, a method that overlays a schematic metro map onto a geographic street map by visually attaching each schematic station to its geographic counterpart with connectors called anchors. The approach seeks to combine the clarity of schematic maps for transit routing with the spatial accuracy of geographic maps for walking navigation. To minimize geometric distortion while preserving network topology, the authors allow non-uniform scaling of metro edges (keeping directions) and formulate the layout problem as a mathematical program inspired by octilinear metro-map methods. Hard constraints (e.g., no edge crossings) and soft objectives (minimizing Euclidean displacement of stations) are used, supplemented by a dynamic-programming post-processing step. Prototypical algorithms applied to Vienna show promising small displacements. Future work includes refining the quadratic formulation, avoiding anchor-line crossings, conducting expert interviews, and running user studies to test whether anchored maps improve navigation; tools will support human-in-the-loop map design.