Really glad to see the new wayfinding maps. They are much clearer and more useful than the OC Transpo maps of areas near stations:
vs
- OC Transpo maps showed the outlines of every building: unnecessary and cluttering detail. The wayfinding maps show only the useful destinations and landmark buildings needed for orientation
- OC Transpo maps showed only building outlines from above, which aren’t really recognisable. (Would you recognise the Shaw Centre from an overhead outline?) The wayfinding maps have drawings of what the buildings look like, much more useful for orientation
- OC Transpo maps indicate things off the map with an arrow, but you have no idea how far they are. The wayfinding maps provide the walking time
- OC Transpo maps used an odd colour scheme: parks are in gray, for example. The wayfinding maps use usual conventions, like green for parks.
- Odd symbols as well on the OC Transpo maps, like the “flame”-like sign for trails (used for some, but not others), whereas the wayfinding maps simply show the trails in an appropriate contrasting shade. Byward Market on the OC Transpo map is, oddly, a brown rectangle (even though the City's own signage uses a market pictogramme), but on the wayfinding map, it's a recognisable market building.
- OC Transpo maps generally picked odd things to highlight: all the hotels in the area around the Rideau Centre, for example, with the usual hotel pictogramme; but things like station entrances/exits are barely visible (just the red O, which gets lost in the excessive map detail and poor colour contrast). The wayfinding map shows the expected tourist destinations and landmarks with the right pictogrammes, and even does a better job than OC Transpo itself at showing station entrances/exits (red O, on a white background) with indication of wheelchair accessible points as well.
Still some oddities on the wayfinding map similar to the OC Transpo one (e.g. sometimes street names are in ALL CAPS, sometimes in Normal Case), but definitely a more useful design. Would have liked them to have outlined other destinations like commercial strips: I think Elgin, Rideau and Dalhousie Sts would have been worth highlighting as destinations in their own right, for example. Clearer indication of bike routes would also be welcome.
Hopefully they replace the OC Transpo ones with these new ones for consistency and actual utility.