It’s not just tourists who can be found staring blankly at maps in London. The sprawling city’s transport systems and hidden alleyways can make even hardened Londoners double-check an A-to-Z.
This might be why, then, the London Transport Museum is opening its new exhibition to the city’s cartography - or maybe it’s just because London’s maps are as attractive as they are useful.
Mind the Map: inspiring art, design and cartography which opened this week, is the largest show of London maps of its kind, and includes unseen exhibits from the depths of the city’s history as well as innovative new work from artists including Simon Patterson, Stephen Walter, Claire Brewster, and Agnes Poitevin-Navarre.
The exhibition looks at the way maps have shaped people’s understanding of London’s geography and the way we understand the city around us - whether that’s working out how to navigate a Boris Bike round Hyde Park, or simply get from Covent Garden to Leicester Square on the Tube.