Stay tuned for more coverage from ExploreMetro.com and DearPassengers.com

As well as our Facebook, Twitter and Weibo you can now +1 us on Google+!

Allie: In every city Matt Mayer travels to, there’s one site he can’t miss.

Matt: I am a big fan of metros. Whenever I’m in town, I try to visit as many of the stations as I can.

Allie: When the Brit moved to Shanghai four years ago, that pastime got a little tricky.

Matt: I really wanted to use public transport to get around but when I searched online, I found that there wasn’t really any good information in English about the metro. I found some metro maps but often they would be like out of date or they wouldn’t include the correct station engine in English. So I thought, “I think I can do better than that myself.”

Allie: Mayer wanted to make the best metro map and trip planner in China. He went to great lengths to make it accurate: really great lengths.

Matt: A couple of years ago, I tried to visit every metro station in Shanghai in a single day. Starting at 6:00 in the morning, finishing late in the evening. It took me just over ten hours to visit every station. Althoufg that was before, some of the new lines have opened. I think if you try to do the same thing today, it would take even longer and it might not even be possible.

Allie: And so Explore Metro was born. It’s an online map of rapid transit systems in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Singapore. And there’s an iPhone app too. You can click on any station on the network, and drag to any other station to find best routes, trip times, and fares. You can also see first and last train times, Google maps of the area round the station, and links to info on nearby places.

All maps are bilingual and non-Chinese speakers can hear the station name in Mandarin.

Allie: Mayer says about 80% of users are Chinese.

Matt: And I do get quite a lot of feedback from Chinese people who are quite surprised that a foreigner actually took the time to make something like this.

Allie: In the past two years, the Shanghai metro has opened three new lines and expanded four. For Jonathan McDonald, this is where Explore Metro comes in handy.

Jonathan McDonald: I don’t know these new subway lines. I don’t know where they go. I don’t know how to connect with them. I don’t know what the fastest routes are. But this really shows me where to go.

Allie: Peggy Wong is living between Beijing and Shanghai. She just recently discovered the site.

Peggy: I think it’s very useful like it’s very user friendly. It’s great that they have such function because normally the map has a lot of stations and it’s a lot easier to pinpoint where the station I need to go.

Allie: But Wong and McDonald both say the maps have room to improve.

Peggy: I cannot zoom in or out so I can only see like a part of the metro map. So if I need to go from a very far end of one side of the city to go to the other side, I go back and forth, like side to side on the map.

Allie: McDonald says he doesn’t feel it accounts for the extra time needed to switch trains at busy interchange stations especially at rush hour.

Jonathan McDonald: I made a route between an interchange that is notoriously busy. And it didn’t give me a realistic journey time. You know, it said this will take you 13 minutes but speaking from personal experience, just that interchange could take you 10 minutes.

Allie: Matt Mayer says he welcomes anyone to write in with comments. And that almost every single added feature comes from user suggestion.

Matt: Although my Chinese is not too great, I do try to reply to everybody whether they’re writing to me in English or Chinese and I can email them back and let you know if it makes into a new version of the app.

Allie: Next stops are Explore Tokyo and Explore Seoul. He plans to keep the project Asia-focused because the rapid transit systems here are expanding so quickly. Currently, Mayer is travelling the world and working remotely. And wherever he can, ride in the rails. For CRI, I’m Allie Johnson.

Visit China Radio International for more China stories!

Despite the fact that ExploreMetro is developed, marketed and supported by one person in their spare time, I do love to hear what you have to say! Almost every feature we add to the app, or new city map we develop, is first suggested by one of our awesome users.

Head over to http://support.exploremetro.com/ where you can:

1. Suggest a feature for our maps and apps in the feedback forum, or vote on other people’s ideas
2. Suggest a new city where you’d like to see a ExploreMetro map
3. Check out the Knowledge Base with a list of Frequently Asked Questions
4. Need to get in touch? Contact us!

Looking at it, certain visual elements seem a little familiar.

For example, let’s take a look at our Explore Shanghai legend. A semi-transparent white rectangle, with blocks for the lines, and a key for the “station”/”interchange station”.

Now, let’s take a look at the Shanghai Daily’s legend. Hmm. Also semi-transparent white rectangle, same layout, same labels, same symbols.

When you click on a station circle on ExploreShanghai, the other lines fade out to highlight which lines travel through that station.

On Shanghai Daily’s map, the exact same behaviour:

Their’s has a rabbit. Must be different.

Now, I generally have respect for the Shanghai Daily, and I’m very happy for the competition: but if you’re going to rip off someone else’s work, at least be honest about it.

Want an explanation? Sure! The red represents Asia, the “m” is for metros, with the curved line representing a metro line on a map. The circle represents the fact we want everyone in the world to use our maps Check out our new look on ExploreMetro.com, on Twitter and Facebook.

You have a new map of the Tokyo Subway coming online this year; do you have future plans for expansion?

My plan for world domination is, of course, a secret, but my next target cities are Seoul and Taipei. There are also scores of first and second tier cities in China that are currently building metros, so I think I’m going to be busy.

Read the full article here: Tube topographer

Here’s a quick tour of the new site

• Homepage
• About us – Information about ExploreMetro, who we are
• Maps – Links to our metro and subway map sites around China
• Advertising Solutions – Information about our forthcoming local advertising platform
• Blog – You’re reading it right now
• Contact us – Contact us by email, web form or Twitter

Please feel free to explore the site and send us any feedback!