Station Master App

New Exit Graphics

Exit Graphic for Green Park

So, another new feature for Version 1.8 is something that we always intended to have in the original release, but have only just got around to implementing!

The ‘exit’ tab screen – which shows you the exact door and carriage to be in, is now drawn graphically, rather than just being a text field – and it’s smart enough to know too by what line you’re on, to draw the 6, 7, or 8 carriages correctly (Or even 2 and 4 for the Overground) and then point out the exact door with a red arrow which exit is best.

We think it’s fabulous, looks great, and we’re very happy to have it in the App at last!

If you like the new feature (or not!) you can always send us feedback to feedback@stationmasterapp.com – or if you like the App, leave us a review on the App Store too!

App update — — 19 Jun 14

Your nearest station is …

Locate your nearest station!

So with Station Master 1.8 now out, we’ve got a couple of new features to tell you about.

The first is dead simple, and something we’ve been meaning to do for ages yet we’ve only just got around to it.

From the list of lines on the main screen, ‘pull down’ and your nearest station is shown for you at the top of the screen – a shortcut to go immediately to the details about the station that is nearest to you! e.g. This is a quick way to look up the details of the station that you might be at right now.

Note … This requires Station Master to use your location, and you will be prompted to allow this. If you say ‘no’ to location services for Station Master (or even perhaps have location services turned off completely!) then this feature won’t work.

You might also be able to have some fun for those using the App that are way outside London to see what it says about your nearest station!

App update — — 18 Jun 14

New App update

iOS 7 icon

Version 1.8 of Station Master has now been released and is live on the App Store where you can get a free update, and we’re thrilled because it’s got several new things that we’ve been working on …

New carriage graphics that are displayed when you look at exit information
Geolocation (pull down) now gives you a short cut straight to the nearest station
Settings are now within the App itself
Updates and corrections to database
MORE maps added, 269 out of 270 tube stations completed – just one more to go!

We’ll be featuring and focusing on the new features in some posts over the next few days …

App update — — 15 Jun 14

Update maps

With version 1.8 about to be released, we’ve been busying away getting ALL 270 tube maps ready (in 3D) for this finally to be complete!

And in doing so, we’ve been going back over some of the older (drawn early on) 3D maps and updating those too, including this one – Finsbury Park, which was in bad need of an update!

Others such at Willesden Junction, Oxford Circus and Elephant & Castle which are also still of an ‘old’ style design will be refreshed to look much nicer too.

Finsbury Park 3D

3D Maps / App update — — 12 Jun 14

All 270 maps … complete

Exciting times App-wise, as this week we finished something that we started back in December 2012. It’s taken a year and a half, but we’re finally at the point where we have 3D maps drawn for all 270 tube stations – here’s a little sneak preview of one of the final ones (quite complicated to draw), Canary Wharf station.

Version 1.8 of the Station Master App is therefore imminent – it’s the longest gap we’ve ever had in terms of ‘number of days’ since it was last updated, but that’s because we’ve been hard beavering away, and putting loads in – it’s coming up very soon now – watch this space!

Canary Wharf 3D Map

3D Maps / App update — — 07 Jun 14

Notting Hill 3D

As we get closer to the next version of the App which will have all 270 tube stations drawn in 3D, we’re still going through some of the older designs and refreshing them to make them look a lot nicer and up to date.

Here’s the latest redesign for Notting Hill Gate, looking all splendid in 3D, and how it will appear in the App update.

NHG 3D

3D Maps / App update — — 17 May 14

A real good service

One of the things which we like to grumble about the most (and we hear others do too – including drivers) is the fabled ‘Good Service‘ announcement which plagues our eardrums on platforms and stations, and often gets automatically announced by a system which isn’t good enough to react quickly to situations on the tube where it’s gone wrong.

Nothing is more annoying when tube travelling than (say) the time when we waited 23 minutes for a Piccadilly Line train whilst being told several times that there was a ‘Good Service‘ when there clearly wasn’t.

Which is why we love this – Andy Drizen’s Tube Map Live. Yes we’re plugging another App which we have no problem doing here if it’s one we really love, and we really love this one. Andy first produced the excellent Tube Tracker, and then subsequently came up with Tube Map Live, which plots the positions of the trains (from a feed from TfL) on a tube map.

The result? You can actually see for yourself the gap between the trains on any particular line, and thus judge for yourself if there really IS a ‘Good Service‘ or not.

Tube Map Live!

Instead of the wasted money on the ‘rainbow board’ in every station bleating on about there being a good service, how great would it be if all stations actually had a display like this, showing you how the trains were actually running. In the meantime, download the App (it’s free!), and watch them for yourselves. Sometimes we watch them, just for fun – even if we’re not taking a journey anywhere!

App update / Good Service / Map / Tube — — 28 Feb 14

Not all trains

With the last ‘C’ stock train running on the Circle line last week, the rollout of S7 trains to the Hammersmith & City and Circle Lines is now complete. There are just 8 C-Stock trains left on the network – still faithfully serving the Wimbledon to Edgware Road branch, and these will be phased out over the next couple of months.

We couldn’t help notice all the ‘All trains do not stop here!’ signs on the platforms, which were put in place when S7’s were first introduced and there was a mix of ‘C’ and ‘S’ trains. Now that all the S-Stocks are out there, surely it’s time to remove these platform signs?

Not all trains … at Aldgate Station

It also leave us (Station Master) in a tricky spot. We have all the new ‘Which door/carriage?’ information ready for the next release of the App – now that trains have 7 cars rather than 6, there have been a few subtle changes in the exit information. But we’re aware that that information is ripe for being copied and used elsewhere.

So in the same way that some cartographers (including Google Maps) introduced fake roads into their maps (known as Trap Streets), we’re considering entering a piece of false/wrong data on purpose so that we’d know if anyone ever copied us!

App update / Tube — — 19 Feb 14

We’re almost there …

The next version of Station Master will be out later in the year (in the next couple of months, we hope), and one thing that it will have is something that we started doing over two years ago (it’s been a long project), that is, drawing every tube station as a 3D map.

We try and do at least one or two a week, and the end is now in sight – we’ve drawn 250 out of the 270 underground stations, that’s 92%. Although we’re trying to not think about the fact that we should really go and sketch out and draw up all the DLR stations after that which just aren’t as interesting.

Anyway, here’s a sneak preview of Highgate which we’ve done this week, complete with its ‘secret’ exit only escalator, and platforms that are far too long for the trains.

Highgate 3D Map

3D Maps / App update — — 14 Feb 14

Station Master 1.7.1 released

iOS 7 icon

We released the new iOS 7 version of Station Master on the last day before the App Store shut down for its Christmas break, which means it’s taken us until now to put through a small revision to fix a couple of minor issues.

During the time we’ve added another and updated a couple more maps again, so that’s now 84% of tube stations mapped out in 3D.

Either way, make sure you download the update today to get the latest version, or if you’ve not bought it at all yet, head over to the App Store and buy it now!

We’ve also been experimenting with the design on the 3D Map ‘Info Box’ which each one has – by incorporating the tile design that that station has into the background box … here’s the one for Belsize Park for example.

3D Maps / App update — — 03 Jan 14

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