Navigation in large subway networks An informational approach

The structural properties of the subway network are crucial in effective transportation in cities This paper presents an information perspective of navigation in four different subway networks New York City Paris Barcelona and Moscow We addressed our study to investigate what is that makes it complicated to navigate in these kinds of networks and we carried out a comparison between them and their intrinsic constraints Our methodological approach is based on a set of cost/efficiency indicators which are defined in the complex networks literature We find that the overall complexity in finding stations measured by the average search information S linearly increases as a function of the network size N The direct implication of this finding is that from these basic levels of required information the average value H (k) can be represented as a function of the node degree k Finally through analyzing subway networks in space P we reveal the existing service modularity among subway routes using a rescaled expression of S (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved