We at Mass Velocity love maps and we love our hometown of Victoria, British Columbia. So we were incredibly excited to work on what we’d consider a dream project: making a map for the Port of Victoria. The Victoria Harbour Master (an awesome title) Mariah McCooey approached us after seeing Owen’s proposed redesign of Victoria’s public transit map.

The Victoria Harbour is unique as it is the only certified water airport in Canada. As such, there’s a wide range of users: from experienced mariners to pilots to hardcore athletes to tourists to first time paddlers. And all the vessels that these people bring to the harbour need to be safely separated. Transport Canada had an existing map which, while technically accurate, was overwhelming to the casual user. The professionals already had proper navigation charts, but someone renting a kayak or a visiting cabin cruiser could potentially miss an important piece of information.

We worked closely with Mariah and her staff to create a map that simplified the hierarchy of information, plus created clear and concise graphics that work even in the absence of colour. The finished piece was extremely well received and will be appearing throughout Victoria in the coming months.

Some behind the scenes photos from our research trip

It was a beautiful day back in October 2018 when we set out on a thorough tour of Victoria’s Harbour, getting an idea of all the different kinds of traffic that interact in such a small space. Special thanks to Mike from the Victoria Harbour Patrol for taking us out, and for giving us some insider info on what needed to be updated for this iteration of the map.