Sneak preview: Stripes line style

Version 6 and version 7 both took several months of hard work. Both versions involved some pretty major changes to how Metro Map Maker worked behind the scenes.

For example, in order to make all maps browsable in version 6, I needed to create a system to turn map data into images, one that's separate from the system that allows you to draw lines and add stations, but works identically. This new system is what generates the SVG (print-quality) maps.

That's just one of the major changes in version 6 -- there were also new line widths and station styles!

Adding mix-and-match line styles in version 7 sounds fairly straightforward, but it ended up being a ton of work in part because I had to re-work how map data was stored (and edited) behind the scenes.

I wanted to mention all of this because the release process takes a long time: there's a lot of big changes that get made, and I try very hard to test every feature carefully so there are hopefully no bugs when the releases come out. (Sometimes, you'll email me about a bug and I'm very grateful – it's very helpful to me to fix them)

So after two very large releases, I wanted to intentionally make a smaller series of releases – not focused on big overhauls but on smaller improvements – and release updates more frequently.

Originally, I thought version 7.1 would be nothing but new styles, and found lots of inspiration in Mark Ovenden's Transit Maps of the World. But as I was making new test maps with the new line styles, there were a lot of features I wish I had -- so I built them.

And I think the Eyedropper and Move Stations features are really big deals. I know they're really helpful to me, and I think you're really going to like them.

Anyway, today's post is a sneak preview of a new line style coming soon in the v7.1 release.

It's another set of stripes, but much thinner than the Wide stripes line style. These thinner stripes are similar to those used in the Athens or Cologne maps, but are much thinner.

Striped line styles are pretty similar to dotted and dashed styles, but striped styles have lines outlining the dots/dashes:

Adding variants of striped, dashed, and dotted lines is pretty easy – but as the number of options grows, I'm considering different ways to make sure the menu doesn't feel cluttered with lots of options that you don't want or won't use.

It's a tricky balance – I want to give lots of options, but I also want to make sure that each new addition to the menu is useful.

I have a few more sneak preview posts to share – make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss any. I hope you like the new line styles and the new features!