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A mapped history of the London Underground

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About the map

The London Underground recently celebrated 160 years of operation. The network is one of the world’s most iconic transport systems yet few know the vast history behind it.

Powered by TfL Open Data and an array of historical information and data from other sources, we created an interactive web app to help you understand how this vast network expanded through time, and how it is used today.

Why it works

The history of the London Underground Network is too complicated to understand using a static map. By using a time slider within an ArcGIS Experience Builder app the user is guided through the construction of the network, at a pace of their choosing.

Filters and bookmarks, working in tandem with dynamic charts, assist with the addition of further information such as passenger numbers. Whilst requiring more user interaction than animations or static maps, web apps provide greater capacity for more complex information sharing.

Important Steps

  • 1.

    Data extraction – tube station and line location data was extracted from OpenStreetMap and opened in ArcGIS Pro, due to the extensive modification required

  • 2.

    Time properties were added to each station to give an open and close year (where required) based on historic logs. Using the Split Feature tool, tube lines were broken up into segments and time enabled.

  • 4.

    The stations layer was duplicated so that a different passenger number year could be symbolised in each. This allows for switching between years and comparison of passenger counts between stations over time.

  • 5.

    Historic maps were used to estimate extents of London at various times to create polygons. These semi-transparent polygons coincide with the basemap to show the city’s growth.

  • 6.

    The web map is added to an Experience Builder where filter, chart and a timeline widgets allow for user exploration of the web map by turning layers on and off based on their attributes.

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Requirements

  • Analysis

    Whilst no specific spatial analysis was required for this web app, an extensive amount of data processing was required. Each line had to be divided up into segments which could be time enabled, along with stations which was a very labour intensive task.

  • Time

    Data collection and cleaning took around 5 hours. Splitting features and addition of time attributes took around 50 hours. Adding passenger data took around 5 hours. Putting together the experience builder took around 10 hours.

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Tips and tricks

  • a-mapped-history-of-the-london-underground-tip-1

    Track progress of data processing using Arcade

    Using Calculate Field to check values of other fields, a progress chart can be created.

  • a-mapped-history-of-the-london-underground-tip-3

    Use Smooth Line tool to resmooth lines after edits

    Where edits to align lines with stations have caused jaggedness, smooth lines rectifies this.

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Links & Resources

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Adam Stanley

Map Author

Adam Stanley

Adam is a Graduate GIS Consultant with a background in researching active and public transport. Outside of work he enjoys cycling and travel.

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