I’ve come to the conclusion that those endlessly rotating maps actually reflect reality. As long as you’re down there, the real world above is spinning free of gravity, geology, and the rest of the universe.
1 Like
Would something like this map be helpful? I liked the ones in Kaohsiung much better. Maybe not doable at Taipei main.
2 Likes
Something like that, but make it digital and navigable by waving your hands around in the air. 
And when people get confused about how to navigate, have our friend standing by to help them…
How do I get to Q-Square? @discobot quote
Our lives are the only meaningful expression of what we believe and in Whom we believe. And the only real wealth, for any of us, lies in our faith. — Gordon Hinckley
The smartest system they could have is to have information booth around where people can walk up and say “which way do I go?”.
Smart system isn’t some new brilliant idea that Taiwan is coming up with.
But like a lot of things in Taiwan, someone is going to make a lot of damn money from it.
And if you go to the right time right place, you can watch someone passing the kickback money under the table in a brown paper bag
1 Like
Yep, a booth with two or three people who speak English, Japanese, and Korean and know Main Station like the back of their hands. Would work wonders. It could double as a tourist center that sells Easy Cards and tours, like the big tourist center in Osaka’s Namba Station.
I think…I think, they have employees standing around at certain spots on the ground floor. I noticed one right outside the handicap elevator giving people directions, but I don’t think that was her purpose.
I enter through the MRT entrance, walk across Taipei City Mall, and enter the Q Square food court. Easy peachy.
Fixed in the name of truth.
1 Like
Maybe if I use the way we give directions in the ol country:
I enter through the entrance next to where there used to be a very nice tree whose leaves changed with the seasons. I go down the stairs, greet the homeless man that is always there wearing a huge scooter helmet, past the weird pissing so called sculpture and then go down another flight of stairs. Turn left and you will be at the mall. Turn right and you will get a massage by some expertly trained blind person.
Go past the Indonesian store, turn right where you see the foreign guy playing the Peruvian flute. Follow the smell of fried chicken to the cheap fast food court. Walk down to Subway and turn left until you see the huge Takeshi Citizen ad. Take that escalator.
Go down another flight of stairs. take a flier from the attendant always there, and pick your posion from any of the available food stuffs.
3 Likes
I have watched so many Taiwan friends receive a kickback under the table or pay Kickback under the table in so many situations and this is just another case.
Just like the Universaide advertising.
Lost…SMOOHST. Bah Humbug. Easiest thing to do , navigate the Taipei Train Station. And if you can’t find your way,…be philosophical and find a NEW way
1 Like
The biggest mistake was making the station square (and ugly as fuck) way back when. It all started going wrong from there. I’m sure there’s people who wander for days in the labyrinthine network of dead ends and false hope they’ve created. There is now a grand clusterfuck of one railway station, one mass transit station (two lines) two bus stations, the airport MRT, the HSR, a pregnant virgin and a donkey,a three ring circus and I believe Amelia Earhart is down there somewhere.
7 Likes
Yeah I found most everything down there but I’m still looking for the pregnant virgin.
I believe she gave birth to a son named Brian already.
Not doable. That map only covers about a fifth of Taipei Main Station. A similar map that reflects the whole Taipei Main (including the newly added airport MRT) would resemble a big ant colony.
2 Likes
That’s why it should be interactive. Wave your hands to navigate, rotate it to any angle, temporarily hide the floors you’re not interested in, zoom in and out, show a trail of bread crumbs to your destination…
People that can’t read a regular flat map on the wall will not be able to read a three-dimensional map.
People generally learn to use or at least refer to flat maps from childhood and at times throughout life. Jumping to a whole new skill of reading a three-dimensional is impossible.
No place in the world really uses a three-dimensional map and it isn’t because they can’t be designed and made. It’s been tried. People are stupid.
Brilliant (not)
Floor maps installed at Taipei Main Station
So now they’re going low-tech.
The problem is the maps will get dirty from being trampled on and will have to be changed every few weeks.