They've knocked up a West End map and a City map rather than attempting to sprawl across all of central London in one go. This is the City map.
Mr MapGrump@mrmapgrump
That's not how I'd have done it.
You might be wondering why TfL want people to walk rather than pay a fare to ride the tube, but that's because they're responsible for all kinds of transport including the healthy options. Also keeping people off the tube during peak periods can leave more space for everyone else.
Not every possible walk is shown, only the key ones.
Mr MapGrump@mrmapgrump
But I would have included Barbican. And I would not have included Angel. What were they thinking?
Also a specific walking route is shown, whereas previous attempts at this kind of map have merely shown a time or distance and let you find your own way.
There have been multiple attempts to do this kind of thing before. A group of students produced a Shortwalk map in 2007 and an insurance company made another in 2009. Also in 2007 the Legible London yellow book contained a Walkable tube map of 109 journeys quicker by foot than Tube. But it wasn't until 2015 that TfL made an official map of walking times between stations and properly promoted it, also a full list of journeys that could be quicker to walk. The following year they multiplied all the times by 100 to show steps rather than minutes and pretended it was a new map. And now here we are with a proper map-based iteration.
Mr MapGrump@mrmapgrump
It's like flogging a dead horse. Nobody actually uses these things, not in real life.
Here's a zoomed-in section of the City map, including several sub-5-minute walks around Bank station.
Mr MapGrump@mrmapgrump
But why doesn't Moorgate link to Bank? Why is the start point for Moorgate not outside the actual Moorgate station? Did someone forget to put a pedestrian blob at Bank? Why are the walks from Fenchurch Street not to the nearest two tube stations? Shouldn't Aldgate have been included? Surely that's not the quickest route from Bank to Liverpool Street? Isn't Moorgate an actual entrance to Liverpool Street station? Why are three of the 160m walks three minutes but the other is four minutes? Why is St Paul's to Bank missing? I wouldn't have done it like that.
It's not easy to see the times and distances on the full-size map because they're in small type so somewhat squinty. So I've taken the West End map and written the number of minutes in really big digits to make it easier to see what's going on.
It's interesting to see how long it might take to walk the length of Oxford Street or the whole of Piccadilly. As a tourist you might well find it helpful to know it takes 19 minutes to cross Hyde Park. Conversely I'd say the map is very unlikely to encourage anyone to walk 22 minutes from Victoria. Also 17 minutes from Leicester Square to Westminster is a very strange choice, skipping Charing Cross in the middle. Obviously Leicester Square to Covent Garden is included.
Mr MapGrump@mrmapgrump
But have you spotted the mistake?
There's always a mistake.
Let's zoom in.
Ah I see it now.
Mr MapGrump@mrmapgrump
No way does Embankment to Waterloo take 19 minutes. 19 minutes is much too long, you can do it in nearer 10. The line's much too short for 19 minutes. Someone's put the wrong number on the map. That's not me quibbling, that's a genuine error.
Still, at least it's better than the third map TfL launched for National Walking Month which shows minutes and steps between stations, all on the same map.
Mr MapGrump@mrmapgrump
That is a useless abomination.
