For the map showing the real walking distances, go to the end of the article.

The typical Singaporean would be familiar with our clean and neat MRT map, which looks like this:

But maps are never the terrain because they rely on approximations and representations.

Beneath the MRT map's neat lines for ease of use and understanding, the actual routes look altogether quite different, as animated by Reddit user wrcyn recently:

As the creator of the animation observes, the downtown area originally looks more like a tangled ball of yarn than anything.

The question as to why the map isn't as accurately represented has been answered by another user:

So what's the reason why MRT maps aren't just location accurate instead of what it is now? For aesthetic purposes and it's easier to see?

It's easier to read, given the fact that you read a transit map to find stations, find out the line the station is on and to get a rough idea of how to get there.

Just like how circuit diagrams have straight lines, even though the circuit diagram is not a 1:1 representation of the actual circuit implementation.

Almost all transit systems around the world have maps that are not geographically accurate, taking cues from Harry Beck's 1933 London Underground map design, which was the first popular map design that followed this diagrammatic map design.

The creator cites another Reddit thread as the inspiration behind his work and explains how he did it:

He drew out the geographically-accurate lines on Illustrator software (with data from Land Transport Authority and Wikipedia), then imported it over to After Effects (another software) to animate the difference between the actual map and the one he drew.

Great work.

[related_story]

Because it looks accurate compared to another map that was previously done also using open source data.

Related article:

Train services on Downtown Line to open later on Sundays because next stop: good news

Map shows where all the current MRT lines in S’pore criss-cross

Map showing the real walking distances between MRT stations in Singapore (Save a copy of it on your phone's album for easy access):