Fast Automatic Schematics for Public Transport Spider Maps

This paper describes a fast automatic method to generate schematic transportation maps from location data. Maps in general are commonly produced by hand or by purely graphics software. This is a difficult and time consuming task that also needs a skilled map designer, which results in an expensive outcome. A configurable force-directed algorithm allows fast creation of eye-pleasing schematic maps, avoiding labor-intensive manual arrangement. In the other hand, different sets of design rules and constraints may be used to quickly generate alternatives, and allow the configuration of a distinctive graphic style. This document presents some of the rules and constraints that may be used to output a map that meets certain criteria in order to be used as a spider map in transportation systems. We show results with real public transport network datasets, and discuss possible evaluation criteria.