Category Transit & Wayfinding

Keeping Cool: The Power of Urban Trees

As average temperatures in many US cities continue to climb and debilitating heat events become more frequent, the importance of green spaces and shade in urban environments has become increasingly evident. National Heatstroke Prevention Day, observed earlier this month on May 1st, serves as a crucial reminder of the risks posed by excessive heat, particularly in densely populated cities like Los Angeles. To help mitigate these effects, one of the rays of hope we’d like to draw attention to is urban trees and shade.
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Unveiling the LA Metro Owl Service System Map

We are excited to announce the launch of the LA Metro Owl Service Map – a new transit map showcasing bus services that operate between 12-4 AM. This product informs commuters who depend on public transit during late night hours.  The Owl Map demonstrates Metro's commitment to continuously improve access to reliable, 24/7 public transit options. DCR collaborated with Metro's Service Planning division to conceive this newest member of the Metro transit map product suite. Below is a glimpse into how this map was brought to life.
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LA Metro’s Regional Connector

DCR has collaborated with LA Metro over the past few months to re-design and update the majority of its customer-facing maps, triggered by Regional Connector, a significant new enhancement to the Metro Rail network. The Regional Connector is a nearly 2 mile long underground rail project that adds three new stations to the Metro network and increases the rail connections between Union Station and 7th Street/Metro Center, the two Downtown LA transit hubs. This creates better opportunities for travelers, reducing transfers in Downtown LA and shortening journey times through the middle of LA.
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Distracted? Then Please Don’t Drive

Distracted driving is a problem that we are all aware of, but it is also notoriously difficult to quantify the scale of. This is due to the wide array of distractions that impact car drivers, which increasingly cost in terms of lost lives, property and serious injuries. More needs to be done by car and mobile phone manufacturers to restrict distractions while driving – promoting safety through software and hardware. For now though, we are left to self-discipline for the sake of public health: when we drive a car, we should do so with as few distractions as possible.
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Innovation through Collaboration: Interdisciplinary Hackathon

DCR was proud to sponsor, mentor and judge the 5th Annual Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Camp PolyHacks hackathon – which took place January 21-22, 2023 at the CIE Hothouse in Downtown SLO. Camp PolyHacks is a student-run, multidisciplinary hackathon dedicated to social entrepreneurship and human-centered design. Teams are allotted 24 hours to design a creative solution to a theme issue. This year, one of the themes was about local transportation and infrastructure!
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The Metro K Line is open!

Martin Luther King Jr Station Entrance
DCR has been busy working on a range of maps for the opening of the new LA Metro K Line. This involved creating new station maps as well as updating many existing maps showing the new station areas and transit system connections. Take a virtual ride along the entire line, which opened on Friday, October 7 2022. The need for the K Line was first recognized in 1967 – but there was a lack of funding at the time. When the Measure R sales tax was passed by LA County voters, funding was finally secured. Since then, hundreds of people have spent countless hours to make the K Line a reality.
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Find DCR in the ESRI Gallery

Every year ESRI collects a wide range of mapping products made by users all over the world and displays them in an online map gallery together with a printed book. This year, our redesign of LA Metro's Bus & Rail System Overview Map is showcased in the ESRI Map Gallery and printed book (Volume 37). To see our map alongside many other interesting mapping projects in the gallery, use this link!
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