The next stop is: compile one big 42nd St complex mega-map that may then serve as header picture for a yet to be written blog post about the process of how I made these maps, and then... I think I'm done with making these maps, for a while anyway.
(Not including the bus terminal itself, sorry, maybe if I ever revisit this hobby in the future, but just like Grand Central that just seems a bit much to scan and model and deal with for now.)
Full resolution: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:42...
Metrically accurate map of the 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal subway station, showing platforms, mezzanines, stairs, elevators, escalators, exits, ticket machines (OMNY), gates, benches, trashcans, ATMs, and restrooms (as of Dec 27, 2025). Made by 3D scanning the station with my iPhone's LiDAR using rtabmap, puzzling together the scans in Blender, and tracing the entire station complex from these scans in Blender, picking fun materials and experimenting with different perspectives, and rendering the final views before composing them and adding labels in Affinity Designer 2.
✨42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal✨
(Almost) Happy New Year! 2025 was one of the roughest years of my life, but it did see me start and now finish scanning & modeling the 42nd Street station complex, its almost-conclusion being my final individual map of the 3: the western end of things!
🧵
Full resolution: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ti...
The next stop is: the 8 Av part of the complex, then one big mega-map, and then, finally, hopefully, a blog post to wrap this project up nicely!
Andrew Yang's favorite station (remember that guy?) is not only notoriously complex and confusing, but also busy as hell, making the scanning a real unpleasant awkward process, but slowly chipping away at it over the past few months, I conquered my fear and produced what you see here :)
Metrically accurate station map of Times Square–42nd Street, showing platforms, mezzanines, stairs, elevators, escalators, exits, ticket machines (MetroCard and OMNY), gates, benches, trashcans, and restrooms.
✨Times Square–42nd Street (1/2/3/7/N/Q/R/W/S; 3D station map)✨
It's been a while, but as teased, here is what I dreaded as the final boss in my station complex mapping project: Times Square.
3D scan and modeled parts of a certain infamous Midtown station form a beautiful mess...
hello greater bluesky community!
my coworker was able to expedite their top surgery, which is exciting, but it's at the cost of saving up and planning around it. we don't make much, and they aren't yet eligible for paid leave.
any help, whether boosts, funds, or well wishes are all appreciated!
Full-res: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:42...
Metrically accurate station map of 42nd Street–Bryant Park/Fifth Avenue, showing platforms, mezzanines, stairs, elevators, escalators, exits, ticket machines (MetroCard and OMNY), gates, benches, trashcans, and restrooms.
✨42nd Street–Bryant Park/Fifth Avenue✨
My first map in the tetralogy it's all been leading up to: the 42nd St megastation maps.
Next up: Times Square, then PABT, and finally one mega-map to rule them all with accompanying blogpost elucidating my methodology... or that's the plan at least :)
I guess the easy trick they mentioned yesterday for the Origin-Destination subway dataset (assume where people swipe in next is where they left the system) could work here too, though they also did say that that's just the simplified model they use for the open data, not the true internal one... 🤷♀️
TIL the @mta.info TrainTime app for Metro North/LIRR gets its estimate for which train car is the *busiest* right now from... the *weight* of the car :O (attending a data talk at the @nytransitmuseum.bsky.social!)
literally one of the biggest reasons i moved here and one of the biggest reasons i can't fucking leave
So far, the Wikimedia Commons, but i'm planning to write a thing about the whole project with the next big map, hosting that and files on my website. Stay tuned or something? 😅
First time drawing alpha maps on my meshes (the street planes mostly) which was fun to figure out, other than that, a simple return to the basics, a breather, as I try to summon the courage for my next project...
Full-res:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Co...
Metrically accurate station map of Court Sq–23 St, showing platforms, mezzanines, stairs, elevators, escalators, exits, ticket machines (MetroCard and OMNY), gates, benches, and trashcans.
After fighting my little laptop to render yet another map, here is the latest, a quick and sketched (read: I was tired of it and didn't want to do tracks and streets, think it looks nice and simple this way, though) map:
✨Court Sq–23 Street (E/G/M/7) ✨
Don't have any experience with drones (though they'd be a great fit for another project I would like to do), so I can't say much about that :/
rtabmap, their iPhone app to capture the data, point clouds and camera pictures, and their desktop app to postprocess with some extra loop closure (the reason I use rtabmap) and 3D file export for import in Blender as modeling reference :)
Full-res: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:At...
Find all map uploads in full-res here:
commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?...
3D rendered map of the station complex, showing all sorts of useful and useless detail.
My latest and truly greatest (so far) NYC subway map (next one just finished rendering so stay tuned):
✨ Atlantic Terminal (/Av-Barclays Ctr) ✨
Mixing up elements of the Fulton and Borough Hall maps (layers, though less strictly here, and train tracks), this one has all new LIRR meshes, too!
...and of course... the tracks itself! Generated from Geo Nodes (I love doing crazy nodes stuff in Blender), they were a fun puzzle to figure out and I think they really tie this one together nicely, making it the most visually appealing map of the bunch yet :)
So what's next? Atlantic!
I was able to use all the improvements of my process and add two interesting things into the mix: the subtle one being the gradients on the exit stairs and elevators as well as the gradient hiding the R tracks under the big mezzanine for legibility (I love doing crazy nodes stuff in Blender),...
This last bit allowed me to stress less about the fidelity of the original scan, speeding up the process greatly---a fact I put to the test for the next map: 📍 Borough Hall / Court St. A relatively small station after the horrors of Fulton St, but nevertheless an interesting one!
...platform labels in the final composition, upgraded models for primarily the elevators, and perhaps most importantly... a quality control step of sorts, having me walk the station again, my map draft in hand to notice what was wrong and what could be improved---and there always is a lot!
...📍 Fulton St, a station so big it felt impossible to not rip floors apart into the view you see here. This station not only was the first time with this floor-separated view, affording me the easy addition of the street grid, but also using a non-ortho camera for the render, the addition of...
...📍 14 St-Union Square, I switched to the aforementioned 3D process. That was a big one and one I was very happy with at the time, demystifying that station greatly for me! But the next jump was just as big: ...
In December 2023 I started this process with 📍 Nevins St, a small station to see if this was feasible, and as you can see I didn't go the 3D modeling route yet, instead drawing the map in 2D---but I wasn't too happy with that, so for the next station...
Dump: ✨ My first few NYC subway station maps! ✨
The main ingredient is the 3D scanning of the station using rtabmap with iPhone Pro's LiDAR. After puzzling together all these partial scans, I create a fresh 3D model in Blender using the scan as reference. Choose a nice perspective & render: tadah!
OMG yay that's my maps!!!!
Okay fine, that's it. Hello again, Bluesky. Also gonna publish the latest if not so greatest map later today... ✨
