0:00:00.001,0:00:01.785
What I do is I organize information.

0:00:01.809,0:00:03.216
I'm a graphic designer.

0:00:03.566,0:00:06.285
Professionally, I try to make sense

0:00:06.309,0:00:09.914
often of things that don't[br]make much sense themselves.

0:00:09.938,0:00:14.052
So my father might not understand[br]what it is that I do for a living.

0:00:14.076,0:00:16.329
His part of my ancestry has been farmers.

0:00:16.353,0:00:19.453
He's part of this ethnic minority[br]called the Pontic Greeks.

0:00:19.980,0:00:24.392
They lived in Asia Minor[br]and fled to Greece after a genocide

0:00:24.416,0:00:25.936
about a hundred years ago.

0:00:26.574,0:00:30.823
And ever since that, migration[br]has somewhat been a theme in my family.

0:00:30.847,0:00:35.348
My father moved to Germany,[br]studied there and married,

0:00:35.372,0:00:39.800
and as a result, I now have[br]this half-German brain,

0:00:39.824,0:00:43.182
with all the analytical thinking[br]and that slightly dorky demeanor

0:00:43.206,0:00:45.185
that come with that.

0:00:45.209,0:00:48.295
And of course it meant[br]that I was a foreigner in both countries,

0:00:48.319,0:00:52.669
and that of course made it pretty easy[br]for me to migrate as well,

0:00:52.693,0:00:55.116
in good family tradition, if you like.

0:00:55.672,0:00:58.997
But of course, most journeys[br]that we undertake from day to day

0:00:59.021,0:01:00.647
are within a city.

0:01:00.671,0:01:03.443
And, especially if you know the city,

0:01:03.467,0:01:07.465
getting from A to B[br]may seem pretty obvious, right?

0:01:08.291,0:01:11.617
But the question is, why is it obvious?

0:01:11.641,0:01:13.523
How do we know where we're going?

0:01:13.983,0:01:17.808
So I washed up on a Dublin ferry port[br]about 12 years ago,

0:01:17.832,0:01:20.224
a professional foreigner, if you like,

0:01:20.248,0:01:23.350
and I'm sure you've all had[br]this experience before, yeah?

0:01:23.374,0:01:25.462
You arrive in a new city,

0:01:25.486,0:01:29.459
and your brain is trying[br]to make sense of this new place.

0:01:29.483,0:01:32.861
Once you find your base, your home,

0:01:32.885,0:01:37.321
you start to build this cognitive map[br]of your environment.

0:01:37.345,0:01:41.233
It's essentially this virtual map[br]that only exists in your brain.

0:01:41.257,0:01:43.018
All animal species do it,

0:01:43.042,0:01:46.017
even though we all use[br]slightly different tools.

0:01:46.041,0:01:52.066
Us humans, of course, we don't move around[br]marking our territory by scent, like dogs.

0:01:52.090,0:01:57.582
We don't run around emitting[br]ultrasonic squeaks, like bats.

0:01:57.606,0:01:59.603
We just don't do that,

0:01:59.627,0:02:02.873
although a night in the Temple Bar[br]district can get pretty wild.

0:02:02.897,0:02:04.245
(Laughter)

0:02:04.269,0:02:08.183
No, we do two important things[br]to make a place our own.

0:02:08.207,0:02:11.259
First, we move along linear routes.

0:02:11.283,0:02:13.753
Typically, we find a main street,

0:02:13.777,0:02:17.347
and this main street becomes[br]a linear strip map in our minds.

0:02:17.371,0:02:19.594
But our mind keeps it pretty simple, yeah?

0:02:19.618,0:02:22.973
Every street is generally perceived[br]as a straight line,

0:02:22.997,0:02:26.729
and we kind of ignore the little twists[br]and turns that the streets make.

0:02:27.110,0:02:29.560
When we do, however,[br]make a turn into a side street,

0:02:29.584,0:02:34.874
our mind tends to adjust that turn[br]to a 90-degree angle.

0:02:34.898,0:02:37.596
This of course makes for[br]some funny moments

0:02:37.620,0:02:39.946
when you're in some old city layout

0:02:39.970,0:02:44.962
that follows some sort[br]of circular city logic, yeah?

0:02:44.986,0:02:47.074
Maybe you've had that experience as well.

0:02:47.098,0:02:50.194
Let's say you're on some spot[br]on a side street

0:02:50.218,0:02:52.560
that projects from a main[br]cathedral square,

0:02:52.584,0:02:56.776
and you want to get to another point[br]on a side street just like that.

0:02:57.308,0:03:01.254
The cognitive map[br]in your mind may tell you,

0:03:01.278,0:03:04.679
"Aris, go back to the main[br]cathedral square,

0:03:04.703,0:03:08.416
take a 90-degree turn[br]and walk down that other side street."

0:03:08.440,0:03:12.875
But somehow you feel adventurous that day,[br]and you suddenly discover

0:03:12.899,0:03:17.751
that the two spots were actually[br]only a single building apart.

0:03:17.775,0:03:19.116
Now, I don't know about you,

0:03:19.140,0:03:21.264
but I always feel[br]like I find this wormhole

0:03:21.288,0:03:24.061
or this inter-dimensional portal.

0:03:24.085,0:03:25.359
(Laughter)

0:03:25.383,0:03:28.890
So we move along linear routes

0:03:28.914,0:03:34.936
and our mind straightens streets[br]and perceives turns as 90-degree angles.

0:03:34.960,0:03:37.905
The second thing that we do[br]to make a place our own

0:03:37.929,0:03:42.092
is we attach meaning[br]and emotions to the things

0:03:42.116,0:03:44.981
that we see along those lines.

0:03:45.005,0:03:50.872
If you go to the Irish countryside[br]and you ask an old lady for directions,

0:03:50.896,0:03:54.784
brace yourself for some[br]elaborate Irish storytelling

0:03:54.808,0:03:56.762
about all the landmarks, yeah?

0:03:56.786,0:04:00.037
She'll tell you the pub[br]where her sister used to work,

0:04:00.061,0:04:03.432
and "... go past that church[br]where I got married," that kind of thing.

0:04:03.456,0:04:07.512
So we fill our cognitive maps[br]with these markers of meaning.

0:04:08.043,0:04:13.670
What's more, we abstract[br]repeat patterns and recognize them.

0:04:13.694,0:04:19.113
We recognize them by the experiences[br]and we abstract them into symbols.

0:04:19.644,0:04:24.235
And of course, we're all capable[br]of understanding these symbols.

0:04:24.699,0:04:25.735
(Laughter)

0:04:25.759,0:04:30.242
What's more, we're all capable[br]of understanding the cognitive maps,

0:04:30.266,0:04:35.984
and you are all capable of creating[br]these cognitive maps yourselves.

0:04:36.008,0:04:39.601
So next time, when you want to tell[br]your friend how to get to your place,

0:04:39.625,0:04:44.393
you grab a beermat, grab a napkin,[br]and you just observe yourself

0:04:44.417,0:04:48.784
create this awesome piece[br]of communication design.

0:04:48.808,0:04:50.220
It's got straight lines.

0:04:50.244,0:04:52.722
It's got 90-degree corners.

0:04:52.746,0:04:54.846
You might add little symbols[br]along the way.

0:04:54.870,0:04:58.989
And when you look[br]at what you've just drawn,

0:04:59.013,0:05:03.551
you realize it does not[br]resemble a street map.

0:05:03.575,0:05:07.850
If you were to put an actual street map[br]on top of what you've just drawn,

0:05:07.874,0:05:12.439
you'd realize your streets[br]and the distances -- they'd be way off.

0:05:13.220,0:05:18.832
No, what you've just drawn[br]is more like a diagram or a schematic.

0:05:18.856,0:05:23.803
It's a visual construct[br]of lines, dots, letters,

0:05:23.827,0:05:26.239
designed in the language of our brains.

0:05:26.719,0:05:28.575
So it's no big surprise

0:05:28.599,0:05:33.558
that the big information-design icon[br]of the last century --

0:05:33.582,0:05:37.915
the pinnacle of showing everybody[br]how to get from A to B,

0:05:37.939,0:05:39.957
the London Underground map --

0:05:39.981,0:05:44.294
was not designed by a cartographer[br]or a city planner;

0:05:44.318,0:05:47.992
it was designed[br]by an engineering draftsman.

0:05:48.714,0:05:50.424
In the 1930s,

0:05:50.448,0:05:56.600
Harry Beck applied the principles[br]of schematic diagram design

0:05:56.624,0:06:00.500
and changed the way public transport[br]maps are designed forever.

0:06:01.270,0:06:04.965
Now the very key[br]to the success of this map

0:06:04.989,0:06:09.049
is in the omission[br]of less important information

0:06:09.073,0:06:11.768
and in the extreme simplification.

0:06:11.792,0:06:15.728
So, straightened streets,[br]corners of 90 and 45 degrees,

0:06:15.752,0:06:21.872
but also the extreme geographic[br]distortion in that map.

0:06:21.896,0:06:25.802
If you were to look at the actual[br]locations of these stations,

0:06:25.826,0:06:27.841
you'd see they're very different.

0:06:28.493,0:06:32.240
But this is all for the clarity[br]of the public Tube map.

0:06:33.081,0:06:36.225
If you, say, wanted to get[br]from Regent's Park station

0:06:36.249,0:06:37.875
to Great Portland Street,

0:06:37.899,0:06:39.733
the Tube map would tell you:

0:06:39.757,0:06:44.369
take the Tube, go to Baker Street,[br]change over, take another Tube.

0:06:44.393,0:06:48.290
Of course, what you don't know[br]is that the two stations

0:06:48.314,0:06:50.858
are only about a hundred meters apart.

0:06:50.882,0:06:53.769
Now we've reached the subject[br]of public transport,

0:06:53.793,0:06:56.837
and public transport here in Dublin

0:06:56.861,0:06:58.844
is a somewhat touchy subject.

0:06:58.868,0:07:01.147
(Laughter)

0:07:01.171,0:07:04.384
For everybody who does not know[br]the public transport here in Dublin,

0:07:04.408,0:07:09.351
essentially, we have this system[br]of local buses that grew with the city.

0:07:09.375,0:07:12.999
For every outskirt that was added,[br]there was another bus route added,

0:07:13.023,0:07:16.753
running from the outskirt[br]all the way to the city center.

0:07:17.967,0:07:21.936
And as these local buses[br]approach the city center,

0:07:21.960,0:07:26.845
they all run side by side and converge[br]in pretty much one main street.

0:07:27.535,0:07:31.448
So when I stepped off[br]the boat 12 years ago,

0:07:31.472,0:07:34.009
I tried to make sense of that.

0:07:35.557,0:07:39.291
Because exploring a city on foot[br]only gets you so far.

0:07:39.974,0:07:45.303
But when you explore a foreign[br]and new public transport system,

0:07:45.327,0:07:49.616
you will build a cognitive map[br]in your mind in pretty much the same way.

0:07:51.102,0:07:55.835
Typically, you choose yourself[br]a rapid transport route,

0:07:55.859,0:07:59.651
and in your mind, this route[br]is perceived as a straight line.

0:08:00.295,0:08:01.947
And like a pearl necklace,

0:08:01.971,0:08:06.900
all the stations and stops are nicely[br]and neatly aligned along the line.

0:08:07.589,0:08:13.243
And only then you start to discover[br]some local bus routes

0:08:13.267,0:08:14.982
that would fill in the gaps,

0:08:15.006,0:08:19.853
and that allow for those wormhole,[br]inter-dimensional portal shortcuts.

0:08:21.687,0:08:25.079
So I tried to make sense,[br]and when I arrived,

0:08:25.103,0:08:27.643
I was looking for some[br]information leaflets

0:08:27.667,0:08:31.184
that would help me crack this system[br]and understand it,

0:08:31.208,0:08:32.919
and I found those brochures.

0:08:33.373,0:08:37.450
(Laughter)

0:08:37.474,0:08:40.819
They were not geographically distorted.

0:08:40.843,0:08:44.823
They had a lot of omission of information,

0:08:44.847,0:08:47.214
but unfortunately, the wrong information.

0:08:47.238,0:08:48.988
Say, in the city center --

0:08:49.012,0:08:52.239
there were never actually any lines[br]that showed the routes.

0:08:52.263,0:08:53.407
(Laughter)

0:08:53.431,0:08:58.181
There are actually not even[br]any stations with names.

0:08:58.205,0:08:59.451
(Laughter)

0:08:59.475,0:09:05.098
Now, the maps of Dublin transport[br]have gotten better,

0:09:05.122,0:09:10.288
and after I finished the project,[br]they got a good bit better,

0:09:10.312,0:09:12.808
but still no station names,[br]still no routes.

0:09:13.375,0:09:19.485
So, being naive,[br]and being half-German, I decided,

0:09:19.509,0:09:22.025
"Aris, why don't you build your own map?"

0:09:22.612,0:09:23.927
So that's what I did.

0:09:23.951,0:09:29.939
I researched how each and every bus route[br]moved through the city, nice and logical,

0:09:29.963,0:09:31.948
every bus route a separate line.

0:09:32.678,0:09:36.035
I plotted it into my own map of Dublin,

0:09:36.059,0:09:38.646
and in the city center ...

0:09:38.670,0:09:40.300
I got a nice spaghetti plate.

0:09:40.324,0:09:42.852
(Laughter)

0:09:42.876,0:09:45.925
Now, this is a bit of a mess,

0:09:45.949,0:09:48.099
so I decided, of course,

0:09:48.123,0:09:51.678
"You're going to apply[br]the rules of schematic design,"

0:09:51.702,0:09:53.563
cleaning up the corridors,

0:09:53.587,0:09:56.342
widening the streets[br]where there were loads of buses

0:09:56.366,0:10:01.151
and making the streets at straight,[br]90-degree corners, 45-degree corners

0:10:01.175,0:10:02.604
or fractions of that,

0:10:02.628,0:10:05.614
and filled it in with the bus routes.

0:10:05.638,0:10:08.937
And I built this city center[br]bus map of the system,

0:10:08.961,0:10:10.793
how it was five years ago.

0:10:11.350,0:10:13.712
I'll zoom in again[br]so that you get the full impact

0:10:13.736,0:10:16.062
of the quays and Westmoreland Street.

0:10:16.086,0:10:18.753
(Laughter)

0:10:18.777,0:10:20.767
Now I can proudly say --

0:10:20.791,0:10:27.119
(Applause)

0:10:27.143,0:10:31.324
I can proudly say,[br]as a public transport map,

0:10:31.348,0:10:35.280
this diagram is an utter failure.

0:10:35.304,0:10:37.191
(Laughter)

0:10:37.215,0:10:39.250
Except, probably, in one aspect:

0:10:39.274,0:10:41.902
I now had a great visual representation

0:10:41.926,0:10:45.798
of just how clogged up and overrun[br]the city center really was.

0:10:46.515,0:10:49.147
Now, call me old-fashioned,

0:10:49.171,0:10:52.654
but I think a public transport[br]route map should have lines,

0:10:52.678,0:10:54.771
because that's what they are, yeah?

0:10:54.795,0:10:58.011
They're little pieces of string[br]that wrap their way

0:10:58.035,0:11:00.224
through the city center[br]or through the city.

0:11:00.739,0:11:06.230
If you will, the Greek guy inside of me[br]feels if I don't get a line,

0:11:06.254,0:11:09.323
it's like entering[br]the labyrinth of the Minotaur

0:11:09.347,0:11:12.611
without having Ariadne giving you[br]the string to find your way.

0:11:12.635,0:11:16.578
So the outcome of my academic research,

0:11:16.602,0:11:23.375
loads of questionnaires, case studies[br]and looking at a lot of maps,

0:11:23.399,0:11:25.812
was that a lot of the problems[br]and shortcomings

0:11:25.836,0:11:28.158
of the public transport[br]system here in Dublin

0:11:28.182,0:11:30.588
was the lack of a coherent[br]public transport map --

0:11:30.612,0:11:33.329
a simplified, coherent[br]public transport map --

0:11:33.353,0:11:36.768
because I think this is the crucial[br]step to understanding

0:11:36.792,0:11:39.989
a public transport network[br]on a physical level,

0:11:40.013,0:11:44.308
but it's also the crucial step to make[br]a public transport network mappable

0:11:44.332,0:11:45.840
on a visual level.

0:11:46.339,0:11:50.249
So I teamed up with a gentleman[br]called James Leahy,

0:11:50.273,0:11:53.584
a civil engineer and a recent[br]master's graduate

0:11:53.608,0:11:56.918
of the Sustainable Development[br]program at DIT,

0:11:56.942,0:12:01.245
and together we drafted[br]the simplified model network,

0:12:01.269,0:12:04.547
which I could then go ahead and visualize.

0:12:04.571,0:12:06.602
So here's what we did.

0:12:06.626,0:12:12.916
We distributed these rapid-transport[br]corridors throughout the city center,

0:12:12.940,0:12:15.355
and extended them into the outskirts.

0:12:15.840,0:12:22.031
Rapid, because we wanted them to be served[br]by rapid-transport vehicles.

0:12:22.055,0:12:25.965
They would get exclusive[br]road use, where possible,

0:12:25.989,0:12:28.544
and it would be high-quantity,[br]high-quality transport.

0:12:28.568,0:12:31.246
James wanted to use[br]bus rapid transport for that,

0:12:31.270,0:12:32.700
rather than light rail.

0:12:32.724,0:12:34.851
For me, it was important

0:12:34.875,0:12:39.273
that the vehicles that would run[br]on those rapid transport corridors

0:12:39.297,0:12:43.713
would be visibly distinguishable[br]from local buses on the street.

0:12:44.713,0:12:47.755
Now we could take out all the local buses

0:12:47.779,0:12:50.852
that ran alongside[br]those rapid transport means.

0:12:50.876,0:12:54.368
Any gaps that appeared[br]in the outskirts were filled again.

0:12:54.392,0:12:57.605
So, in other words,[br]if there was a street in an outskirt

0:12:57.629,0:13:00.692
where there had been a bus,[br]we put a bus back in,

0:13:00.716,0:13:05.147
only now these buses wouldn't run[br]all the way to the city center,

0:13:05.171,0:13:08.711
but connect to the nearest[br]rapid-transport mode,

0:13:08.735,0:13:10.896
one of these thick lines over there.

0:13:10.920,0:13:14.065
So the rest was merely[br]a couple of months of work,

0:13:14.089,0:13:16.188
and a couple of fights with my girlfriend,

0:13:16.212,0:13:20.164
of our place constantly[br]being clogged up with maps,

0:13:20.188,0:13:22.181
and the outcome, one of the outcomes,

0:13:22.205,0:13:25.438
was this map of the Greater Dublin area.

0:13:25.462,0:13:27.048
I'll zoom in a little bit.

0:13:28.548,0:13:32.595
This map only shows the rapid[br]transport connections, no local bus,

0:13:32.619,0:13:37.869
very much in the "metro map" style[br]that was so successful in London,

0:13:37.893,0:13:42.165
and that since has been exported[br]to so many other major cities,

0:13:42.189,0:13:44.970
and therefore is the language[br]that we should use

0:13:44.994,0:13:47.157
for public transport maps.

0:13:47.863,0:13:53.380
What's also important is,[br]with a simplified network like this,

0:13:53.404,0:13:58.882
it now would become possible for me[br]to tackle the ultimate challenge

0:13:58.906,0:14:02.479
and make a public transport map[br]for the city center,

0:14:02.503,0:14:05.599
one where I wouldn't just show[br]rapid transport connections,

0:14:05.623,0:14:09.097
but also all the local bus routes,[br]streets and the likes,

0:14:09.121,0:14:11.431
and this is what a map[br]like this could look like.

0:14:11.455,0:14:13.042
I'll zoom in a little bit.

0:14:15.926,0:14:20.968
In this map, I'm including[br]each transport mode,

0:14:20.992,0:14:25.857
so rapid transport, bus,[br]DART, tram and the likes.

0:14:26.199,0:14:31.900
Each individual route[br]is represented by a separate line.

0:14:33.233,0:14:37.389
The map shows each and every station,

0:14:37.413,0:14:40.718
each and every station name,

0:14:40.742,0:14:44.992
and I'm also displaying side streets.

0:14:45.516,0:14:48.997
In fact, most of the side streets[br]even with their name,

0:14:49.021,0:14:53.948
and for good measure,[br]also a couple of landmarks,

0:14:53.972,0:14:56.146
some of them signified by little symbols,

0:14:56.170,0:14:59.259
others by these isometric[br]three-dimensional

0:14:59.283,0:15:01.281
bird's-eye-view drawings.

0:15:01.305,0:15:03.938
The map is relatively small[br]in overall size,

0:15:03.962,0:15:07.103
so something that you could[br]still hold as a fold-out map

0:15:07.127,0:15:10.785
or display in a reasonably-sized[br]display box on a bus shelter.

0:15:10.809,0:15:15.453
I think it tries to be the best balance

0:15:15.477,0:15:18.809
between actual representation[br]and simplification --

0:15:18.833,0:15:23.976
the language of way-finding in our brain.

0:15:24.000,0:15:27.531
So, straightened lines,[br]cleaned-up corners,

0:15:27.555,0:15:31.221
and of course, that very, very[br]important geographic distortion

0:15:31.245,0:15:34.769
that makes public transport maps possible.

0:15:34.793,0:15:37.531
If you, for example, have a look[br]at the two main corridors

0:15:37.555,0:15:40.827
that run through the city --[br]the yellow and orange one over here --

0:15:40.851,0:15:44.429
this is how they look in an actual,[br]accurate street map,

0:15:44.453,0:15:48.438
and this is how they would[br]look in my distorted,

0:15:48.462,0:15:50.877
simplified public transport map.

0:15:51.416,0:15:54.318
So for a successful public transport map,

0:15:54.342,0:15:57.096
we should not stick[br]to accurate representation,

0:15:57.120,0:15:59.481
but design them in the way[br]our brains work.

0:15:59.505,0:16:02.776
The reactions I got were tremendous,[br]it was really good to see.

0:16:02.800,0:16:06.492
And of course, for my own self,[br]I was very happy to see

0:16:06.516,0:16:09.914
that my folks in Germany and Greece[br]finally have an idea

0:16:09.938,0:16:11.117
what I do for a living.

0:16:11.141,0:16:12.143
(Laughter)

0:16:12.167,0:16:13.318
Thank you.

0:16:13.342,0:16:15.539
(Applause)