IEEE VIS 2024 Content: City Pulse: Revealing City Identity Through Abstraction of Metro Lines

City Pulse: Revealing City Identity Through Abstraction of Metro Lines

Xinyue Chen - Peking University, Beijing, China. Peking University, Beijing, China

Yixuan Zhang - Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China. Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China

Yutong Yang - Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

Jing Chen - NUA School of Design, Nanjing, China. NUA School of Design, Nanjing, China

Rebecca Ruige Xu - Syracuse University, Syrcause, United States. Syracuse University, Syrcause, United States

Wai Ping Chan - Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China. Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China

Xiaoru Yuan - Peking University, Beijing, China. Peking University, Beijing, China

Room: Bayshore III

2024-10-17T14:50:00ZGMT-0600Change your timezone on the schedule page
2024-10-17T14:50:00Z
Abstract

Metro systems are the pulsing veins of cities, traversing the city’s texture and preserving the memory of urban life. Visualizing the metro, which is a visceral and accustomed part of the daily lived experience for residents, makes it reappear in residents' perspectives in a new form, becoming a more emblematic landscape of each city's unique identity and development. In this project, we introduce an abstraction method that encodes metro routes as lines, cities as squares, and the global map as an abstract representation. Along with the implementation of an interactive system, the project enables a comprehensive visual exploration of the global metro lines. Through this highly abstract and minimalist form, each city’s structure, symbolic identity, and regional development are revealed. Moreover, the colorful global metro map efficiently portrays the diversity and evolution of metro lines worldwide. With this pictorial we narrate the design process and our reflections along the project.