These are two thoughts that are not commonly connected, but consider Harry Beck's brilliant innovation in creating in 1933 his topographic map of the tube (pdf), which anyone familiar with London will recognise. It replaced Frank Stingemore's earlier map, drawn to geographic scale, which travellers found largely unusable, especially in inner-London.

Beck's fundamental insight was that train travellers cared less about geographic distance than about connectivity. His innovation has been adopted by metro rail lines around the world. Here is Seoul's (until the North Koreans eventually bomb it to bits):



And here is the very much more modest Sydney map:



HT: Edge 330

I always wondered why they're always so punctillious about makring stretches of water on these maps. So you know when to be most nervous about the ceiling caving in?

__________________
Standard disclaimer: the disgusting statements contained in this post are the views of the poster, and unless specified do not represent the views of the moderators or the site's owners.

No. Where you know to take your scuba gear on the faint off-chance that there is an opportunity for fishing.