Can more geographically accurate tube map cut journey times?

In a new study called Mind the Map, New York University professor of urban planning Zhan Guo compared the journeys made by Tube passengers with routes the travel time data showed they "should" have made.

He compared the journey between Bond Street and Paddington stations - a trip with two potential routes, the first via Baker Street and the second through Notting Hill Gate.

The second route is slower, but about 30 per cent of travellers chose it. He wrote: "Passengers often take a path that looks shorter on the system map but is longer in reality."

Earlier this month I posted a piece on a geographically accurate tube map developed in France. A few people wondered why we had done it here. 

Well, a week ago, the development of an apparently seriously minded British version was announced. It's slightly different to the French one in that it's billed as a more geographically accurate version, a kind of half-way house between what we have now and the French version.

Could it help us all travel more efficiently? It may also alter perceptions of our city since, in my experience, many people's primary understanding of our city's geography is through the tube map.

For all you cartophile Apple fan-boys and girls out there, the new map's developper has an app in currently awaiting approval from iTunes which he's hoping will be available sometime next week.

I'm struck by just how much time is spent studying and discussing the tube map. What is it about it that fascinates so much? Is it the brilliance of Harry Beck's original plan or is because it's so core to our perception of London?

Links to:

Previous tube map disucssions on HoL

Edward Tufte's Tube Map Website

More geographically accurate London Underground map