Talk:Helsinki tram

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Am I wrong, or is this the northernmost tram network in the world? If so, I think it would be worth mentioning in the text.. --213.186.238.198 18:58, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

Interesting thought... it should be noted though that the city of Bergen is just a tad more north than hHelsinki (but very slightly, maybe 10km) and the article on Bergen says "The tram system was closed in 1965, although a museum line still operates on Møhlenpris." also the Turku netowrk that once was was also to teh north of Helsinki. So at least it would have to be the operational tram network. Gillis 21:03, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
Gävle, Sundsvall and Kiruna (all Swedish ex-tram towns) are also more north than Helsinki. Since the closure of the Arkhangelsk system 2,5 years ago, the nothernmost tram route is to be found in Trondheim, Norway. Piirka 18:46, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Map

Although the self-made tram map is neat, is there really need for it? I'm talking about this map:

There's an official map of far better quality available via the external links. I know that we're not allowed to use that map in the article, but do we need to? --Siipikarja 15:13, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

I think the map is very nice to have. Updating that map wouldn't be such a hugely difficult job, I've actually been meaning to do it for a while now, but more "important" things seem to always get in the way. But as long as the only available usable map is out-of-date, it might be prudent to remove it. -- Kjet 20:42, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Right. Good to hear somebody is active in this topic. Since we already have the official map, there's no need to re-invent the wheel. The official map serves well as a topological map, but perhaps not as well as a logical map because of all the background layers (houses, roads, etc.).
Therefore, I'm suggesting that if you, or anyone else, are/is willing to create a new map, he/she should use the accompanying subway map of Hong Kong as a guideline. It is clear and simple, yet informative.
  • In the background we just two colors: blue and white.
  • In the foreground we have the color coded lines with enough contrast to the background. Also, the lines are broadly speaking in their correct geographical positions. But more importantly, they are logically correct and fit in small space. Using this scheme, the blueprint of line 8 in Helsinki tram could look like (using ASCII craphics):
                               |
                               |
                  +------------+
                 /
                /
               /
              +
              |
              |
       -------+

Well, you get the point. Also it would be even more nice if there were individual "straight line" maps for each tram line as in the following picture:

Image:Island_Line.png

What comes to the Swedish names, I think they should be left out, since we're dealing with English Wikipedia here. The best format for the graphics is the vector (svg) format. --Siipikarja 13:46, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Hmm, I'm dead certain I already wrote a reply to your above comment earlier tonight, but apparently I didn't. So, abridged version of that: I agree about simplifying the map, it will also be easier to draw that way. I'm not convinced about having a straigth line graphic for each individual line, as far as I can see there would really be no particular use for them, unless someone wishes to create a separate article for each line (which would seem a little superfluous to me). Also agreed about the Swedish names, although it might be nice to create a second version with swedish names that could be used in sv Wiki (and the other Scandinavians if they have an article on this subject). Now I just need to learn to do vector graphics... -- Kjet 20:47, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
Leaving out the Swedish names is in my humble opinion not a good idea as they are indeed official names for the stations and are listed as such on the stations themselves... it's not as if it takes up that much more space. Gillis 16:30, 24 September 2007 (UTC)