An exhibition at the David Rumsey Map Center at Stanford University, You Are Here: Transit Cartography and Spatial Identity, explores the evolving design language of transit maps and the relationship of that design language with the identity of the place being mapped.

You Are Here explores the unique relationship between regional and global transit maps and the socio-cultural identity of their subjects. Transit maps can be utilitarian, functioning as navigational tools, but they can also be aspirational, signs of cities and nations attempting to shift perceptions of their identity. The individual maps in this exhibition serve as a window into the histories of the places they represent as well as the history of transit cartography as a whole. With a wider view, the evolution of transit maps demonstrates how a transportation system can become synonymous with a city or nation’s identity, reflecting its change over time, spearheading cartographic innovations, or reifying an entirely new vision for space and place.

More at Stanford Report. The usual suspects (Beck, Vignelli) make appearances, but there are some interesting Chinese, Russian and colonial examples here as well. You Are Here was curated by Jayne Killander, the winner of a Califonia Map Society student curation competition. The exhibition is both in-person and online; it opened March 25 and runs until August 21, so if you’re in the area, hurry up; I imagine the online version will stay up, at least for a bit. [Cartonaut]