Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Passenger Train Maps - Canada vs. U.S.

Comparing Canada's Online Passenger Train Map 

to the United States' Online Passenger Train Map...

:-( 

Canada has a quick loading banner with the map in a layer
Instructions: "VIA has 19 train routes across Canada. To select your train route, simply select a train from the list under the map..."

Canada's VIA Website >


While the U.S. site has 6 disjointed maps found click click-thrus on this page
https://www.amtrak.com/routes.html

or...
 a huge (slow to download) PDF> 

U.S. Amtrak site > 

Although the Interactive Route Atlas >  shows promise...  Oops!
NOT AVAILABLE ? TAKEN OFFLINE! (6-2-19)
 it is a much longer process to figure out how the interactivity works (panning, selecting destinations, etc.) and will inevitably lose the impatient casual visitor. 

Granted, the U.S. passenger train network is larger and more complex but the ease of navigation, simple logical layout is much more intuitive and user friendly on the Canadian site...


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