Why limit schematic maps to subways?

Anyone visiting London frequently references the iconic Tube map without any idea of how its schematic representation relates to actual geographic placement.  We don't need to.  The only thing we need to do is to get off at the right station.

Recently and for some unknown reason, I wanted to recall where various US Highways entered and exited Illinois and in what order to they intersect.  After staring at Google Maps, forgetting what I just saw, and repeatedly backtracking, I decided that a schematic map would do just the trick.  There no need to bother with scale, just the order of the intersections (think stations in Tube terms).

I'm sure many people (at least 2 or 3) have pondered this question, so I set out on the task.  I limited myself to currently in-service US federal highways, the ones with the black and white shield.  Sorry, no route 66 since it is no longer an official highway.  Also, no interstate highways (my apologies to fans of the Tri-State), unless a US highway is still co-listed with the interstate such US 51 and Interstate-39.

I knew flowcharting software would do the trick given past experience with Microsoft's Visio.  Not wanting to actually spend money on this new endeavor, I searched for a cheaper alternative.  LucidChart became the clear winner.  It had the flexibility I needed along with a free (not trial) on-line version.

After many hours of wrangling with maps and LucidChart, the solution was achieved.  At least other people like me on the US Highways Facebook group liked it. Yes, there is actually a Facebook group dedicated to US Highways.  I am not alone.

Cheers.


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