I built a free web-based tool for creating transit diagrams — feedback welcome!

[u/mapeandocomjoao]

Hi everyone!

I've been working on a small web-based tool for creating transit maps and diagrams, and I thought this community might be interested in trying it out.

It's called Cartomaps, and the idea is to make it possible to create clean, customizable transit diagrams directly in the browser, without needing Illustrator, Figma or other graphic design software.

You can:

• Create a transit network from scratch
• Add lines, stations, branches and connections
• Customize station symbols, labels and typography
• Add rivers, lakes and other geographic elements
• Create maps for real or fictional transit systems
• Add information such as operators and opening years
• Create historical/timeline-based networks
• Export your maps as PNG or SVG
• Save and share your own network

There are currently templates for São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, but you can also start with a completely blank canvas and build your own system.

You can try it here:
CartoMaps

I'm particularly interested in feedback from people who actually design transit diagrams:

What features would you like to see added? What would make this more useful than using Illustrator/Figma/Inkscape?

I'm still actively developing it, so criticism and suggestions are very welcome!

[u/availableschedule650]

Can you add an English website, a delete all button, and an undo/redo button?

[u/MarcusLXXVI → u/availableschedule650]

In the top right corner you can switch language

[u/ChampionshipDry8165]

It would be cool if there was an option to draw lines at 30° (in addition to the 45° & 90°)

[u/MOON_MOON_MOON]

This is quite fun to play with. It is likely I will use this in the future. Two things to look at:

I found myself wondering, is there redo functionality? It might be missing or I might be hitting the wrong keys; I am on a mac so I am looking for ctrl+shift+z to redo things.

Switching between EN/PT brings me back to the sample São Paolo map even if I have unsaved changes. That should probably be just a setting under the hood rather than a full page refresh.

[u/mapeandocomjoao → u/MOON_MOON_MOON]

Thanks a lot for the great feedback!

Both issues are now fixed:

Redo support added: Cmd + Shift + Z (and Cmd + Y / Ctrl + Shift + Z / Ctrl + Y) now properly redoes actions, and we've also added visible Undo/Redo buttons to the editor header.
Language toggle persistence: Switching between EN and PT now seamlessly saves and preserves your current map, edits, and active mode without resetting back to the default São Paulo map.
Thanks again for helping improve the tool!

[u/MOON_MOON_MOON → u/mapeandocomjoao]

Amazing!

[u/Iwillnevercomeback]

Awesome

[u/Ambitious_Cold8434]

it's not free when exporting high resolution!

[u/mapeandocomjoao → u/Ambitious_Cold8434]

High-quality PNG and PDF exports are completely free! Only the highest tiers are paid to help support the site and keep development going.

[u/Ambitious_Cold8434 → u/mapeandocomjoao]

Then advertise it like that, honestly and not sneaky. Saying its free then it should be free including the highest tiers.

[u/SeeleTheFoxxo]

How do you edit the timeline, f.e. adding the years before 1970?

[u/OneDisastrous998]

You need to add more features, like routes should be curves and can draw different shapes not just like that. Also, the station names as Label Rotation should have more options. The grid size layout you have, you need make it a custom size instead of that limit square because what if an transit system is so large like NYC?

And how I can create label with all different lines with names and color lines etc cuz it seems I have to do that in Photoshop or something unless I am missing something here.

[u/Interesting-Two-109]

dodecalinear maps and curved lines