The rules for our map contest said that beyond the Silver Line, Franconia-Greenbelt service, and Farragut “virtual tunnel,” maps could use their judgment about what to include and what to leave off.

We’ve already talked about commuter rail lines, bus lines, and parking icons as elements to add or omit, and the comments on several maps discussed the wisdom or folly of leaving off the Beltway. A number of maps also toyed with including some other interesting elements, including stadiums and other attractions, the Purple Line, numbers of parking spaces, and QR codes.

Those maps include Map H, by Rebecca Carroll; Map F, by David Thorsley; and Map J, by Nikolas Marosfalvy. Map F started with 69 first-place votes and placed 8th. Map H got 66 first-place votes and placed 6th, passing F in Round 7. and Map J got 11 first-place votes and placed 14th.

Map H, by Rebecca Carroll. Click for full version.

Map H took a generally clean approach with thin lines and solved the multiple-line problem by using individual small white circles on each line separately. But H is most notable for including the Purple Line from Bethesda to New Carrollton.

The jury awarded H an honorable mention for its overall look, but split on whether it was a good idea to include the Purple Line. They liked the clean look and the way it labels key monuments, versus the unlabeled icons of the current map. However, they felt the lines might be too thin, and station names too small. Also, they said that in the past, the white circle has denoted unopened stations, clashing with this map’s approach.

Map F, by David Thorsley. Click for full version.

Map F takes the thinner lines of the Wikipedia map but uses a somewhat more angular layout. There are several items in F that don’t appear in the current map. All labels appear in both English and Spanish. For speakers of other languages, a QR code, or 2-dimensional barcode, in the corner would lead to other translations and text next to the barcode in all of those languages instructs speakers to scan the code.

F also supplements the current Mall icons with additional icons: The Verizon logo for the downtown arena, a curly W for the Nationals ballpark, the letters RFK for the stadium, the GW and GMU logos for their stadiums, Smithsonian suns for the various museums, and the Wolf Trap logo. The jurors specifically praised F for showing attractions beyond just those on the Mall.

Map J, by Nikolas Marosfalvy. Click for full version.

Map J adopted several of the same ideas. Along with commuter rail lines, it shows the planned Purple Line. Baseball, soccer and football icons show those major sports stadiums. In addition, instead of just containing a parking icon for stations with parking, Map J includes the number of spaces.

Many maps show airport buses, but Map J also shows the expected amount of time and the fare. It shows how the 5A takes 40 minutes from Rosslyn compared to 20 minutes from West Falls Church for the Washington Flyer, and that the Flyer costs more. This is potentially quite useful information for someone trying to choose among the routes or unsure what’s involved in an airport bus.

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.