About MetroMap
MetroMap is a time-lapse of how 12 cities built their metro systems — 122 lines across 166 years. Every line draws onto the map in the year it opened, with what it cost in today’s money, and every date and cost is backed by a cited source.
Why this exists
The story of how cities build big infrastructure is scattered across operator reports, government archives, news stories, and wikis. MetroMap pulls it into one place that you can watch and compare: when each line opened, how long it took, and what it cost — normalised so a tunnel dug in 1900 can sit next to one dug last year.
How it was built
This is a one-person project, end to end: research, data pipeline, design, and engineering. The dataset is assembled with an AI-assisted research workflow that fans out per line, requires a source and supporting quote for every date and cost, and adversarially cross-checks each fact before it enters the dataset. Curated facts live in a database and are exported as plain JSON; line geometry comes from OpenStreetMap; the map is rendered with MapLibre GL. The full data model, inflation method, and source list are on the Sources & methodology page.
Who's behind it
I’m Trevor Hinkle — a full-stack product manager and designer helping teams build software for the future economy: energy, climate, and infrastructure. MetroMap is a lab project — an exercise in taking an ambiguous question (“what did it actually take to build the world’s metros?”) all the way to a shipped product.
Get in touch
Want to suggest a city, send a correction, or work together? Email trevor@lighthouse-studio.co or find me at trevorhinkle.com.