Article
September 9, 2026
Your city, within reach: 7 image prompts for tourism and transit
# Government
# ChatGPT
Help residents and visitors picture the journey to your city’s public resources.
Laura Keenan
Your city has places worth discovering: public parks, museums, libraries, waterfronts, and neighborhood destinations. For city and state officials working to grow tourism, encourage transit ridership, and increase use of public resources, the story should also show people how to get there.
Imagine a visitor who wants to explore beyond a hotel, or a resident who has never taken the bus to a nearby park. An invitation becomes more useful when they can picture the journey: where to wait, which connection to make, what boarding looks like, and how to find help.
Image prompts give tourism, transportation, and communications teams a way to develop that story together. A diagram can connect attractions. A storyboard can introduce a first ride. A labeled image can make a useful feature easier to find. These seven examples show how to build a campaign around a simple invitation: your city is within reach.
The aim is to help more people feel prepared to explore and use public services. Show the access features your community actually offers, with enough detail for people to decide whether a trip works for them. All images below are fictional AI-generated concepts; replace the examples with verified local details before using them as travel instructions.
Help more people feel welcome
For cities with multilingual communities and lots of tourists, visual storytelling can give people another way to understand how to get around. A clear boarding sequence, a labeled bus interior, or a simple transfer diagram can make an unfamiliar journey easier to picture—even when someone is still learning the local language.
That can help visitors feel more confident exploring museums, parks, neighborhoods, and local businesses by public transit. Think of the image as part of the welcome: show what to look for, explain the next step, and connect the story to reliable visitor information.
Pair visuals with plain-language instructions and reviewed translations in the languages your community and visitors use. Pictures and symbols are not understood the same way by everyone, so test them with the people you want to reach. Keep essential route, fare, and accessibility information available as text as well.
Start with a destination, then explain the journey
Choose one public destination and one audience: for example, first-time visitors traveling from a downtown stop to a museum. Bring tourism and transit staff together to confirm the journey, the information travelers need, and the invitation at the end. A city team can focus on a local trip; a state team can adapt the approach to a regional visitor itinerary with local partners.
Use an image-enabled tool approved for your work. The techniques describe visual styles and formats to include in a prompt. Start with what a person needs to understand, then choose the view that makes it clear.
Attach an approved reference image when consistency matters. Tell the tool what to preserve: the vehicle, doorway position, route connections, or recurring rider.
1. cutaway: What will I find inside?
A visitor planning a day downtown may want to know what the bus is like before boarding. A cutaway lets your communications team introduce the interior in a visitor guide or trip-planning page. Reveal the entrance, aisle, and seating while keeping the vehicle recognizable. Use your actual fleet as the reference when creating a public-facing version.
AI-generated example. A cutaway of a fictional teal bus reveals the entrance, aisle, and seating.
Try this prompt
cutaway Landscape educational cutaway illustration of a fictional modern city bus, teal body, blue lower stripe, cream roof. Remove the near-side wall as an architectural cutaway while retaining the outer silhouette, roof, wheels and windshield. Reveal driver area at front LEFT, front passenger doorway just behind driver area, clear central aisle, seating farther back and an open flexible space near entrance. Bus stationary, no passengers. Beautiful precise editorial 3D illustration on pale cream background, soft daylight, blue-green palette, no text, branding, route numbers or engineering specifications.
Refine it
Keep the bus unchanged. Simplify interior detail and make the entrance and aisle easier to distinguish.
A cutaway is an explanatory illustration. Confirm the actual vehicle layout before using it to orient riders.
2. schematic: How does my route connect?
Connect the places people want to visit with the service that gets them there. A tourism office and transit agency could use a schematic to tell a simple story: the library, museum, park, and market are part of a day out. This example removes geographic clutter so the connection is easy to see. Publish real routes alongside verified service details and an accessible text itinerary.
AI-generated example. A fictional diagram connects Library, Central, and Museum, with a second line through Central to Park and Market.
Try this prompt
schematic Create a clean landscape transit route schematic for an explicitly fictional teaching example. Two lines ONLY. Solid dark teal horizontal line with three stops labelled exactly 'Library', 'Central', 'Museum', in that order left to right. Dashed blue vertical line intersects ONLY at Central, with upper endpoint labelled 'Park' and lower endpoint labelled 'Market'. White circles with navy outlines for stops; Central a larger double ring. Generous cream background, clean readable sans serif labels, simple flat graphic. Small footer 'Fictional route example'. No extra stops, arrows, street geography, numbers, logos, or other text.
Refine it
Keep the connections identical. Increase label size and ensure the dashed line stays distinguishable in grayscale.
In this fictional example, Library–Central–Museum is one line. Park–Central–Market is another. Central is their shared connection; the diagram says nothing about distance, frequency, direction of travel, or fares.
3. isometric diagram: Where do I wait and board?
Help someone recognize where their journey begins. An isometric view can show the shelter, stop sign, waiting area, and bus doorway together. City staff could place a verified version on a visitor page or use it to explain a stop near a popular public attraction. The view should make the relationship between sidewalk and boarding area clear.
AI-generated example. An isometric view shows a shelter, sign, waiting area, and a bus beside the curb.
Try this prompt
isometric diagram Create a vivid isometric illustration of a fictional neighborhood bus stop on a compact cream cutout base. Teal bus stopped parallel to curb, its front door facing sidewalk. Shelter and bench set back from curb, one clear bus-stop sign with a simple bus pictogram and no text, unobstructed paved waiting and boarding area, three diverse adults waiting on sidewalk. One small tree and restrained buildings for context. Bright inviting daylight, teal blue soft-green cream palette, precise editorial miniature, consistent human scale. No people in roadway, text, traffic engineering details, ramps, logos or real location.
Refine it
Keep the layout fixed. Reduce background buildings and emphasize the relationship between the waiting area and bus doorway.
Check the physical relationship carefully: the doorway must face the boarding area. Generated scenes can put doors on the wrong side or leave a roadway between the rider and the entrance.
4. step-by-step storyboard: What happens on my first trip?
Turn the invitation to explore into a journey someone can picture. A city or state tourism team could use a storyboard in a welcome guide, station display, or campaign encouraging first-time transit use. Follow one person through the trip, then adapt the sequence to a real journey to a museum, waterfront, or public park. Include the agency’s actual payment and boarding steps in the final guide.
AI-generated example. Six frames follow the same fictional rider through planning, waiting, checking, boarding, riding, and exiting.
Try this prompt
step-by-step storyboard Create a warm cinematic six-panel illustrated storyboard in a clean 3 by 2 grid. SAME adult woman wearing mustard jacket and blue backpack throughout; SAME teal city bus. Exact short captions top row 'Plan', 'Wait', 'Check'; bottom row 'Board', 'Ride', 'Exit'. Plan: woman checks simple paper route guide at home. Wait: waits at sidewalk stop. Check: reads bus front display from sidewalk, display blank blue without text. Board: enters stationary bus front door. Ride: sits calmly with backpack on lap. Exit: steps from stationary bus onto sidewalk. Rich editorial illustration, teal sky-blue cream and warm accents, clear sequence, no extra readable text, logos or payment specifics.
Refine it
Keep the rider and bus consistent. Make each frame focus on a single action and leave space for agency-specific instructions.
This is a six-frame orientation storyboard, not a complete operating guide. Add the agency’s verified payment, assistance, stop-request, and exit instructions in accompanying text.
5. visual analogy: Why would I change buses?
A transfer may be unfamiliar to someone who usually drives. Two paths meeting at one point can introduce the idea that a connection opens up more destinations. Use the analogy as an inviting first explanation, then link to the real route, schedule, and transfer rules so the reader can plan a trip.
AI-generated example. Two ribbon paths meet at a shared platform, representing a connection between parts of a journey.
Try this prompt
visual analogy Create a memorable editorial visual analogy for changing buses: two differently colored ribbon paths, one teal and one blue, meet at a large shared circular platform, each ribbon extending onward in a different direction. One tiny friendly fictional bus on each ribbon, a single adult traveler on the shared platform. Clear simple physical-paper sculpture metaphor, not a real roadway. Cream studio background, dramatic soft shadows, elegant playful composition, no words, arrows, timetables, clocks, currency, logos or promises about transfers.
Refine it
Simplify to two paths, one shared connection point, and one traveler. Keep the two paths distinguishable by texture as well as color.
The shared platform represents a connection. It does not imply that buses arrive together, that a transfer is free, or that every connection happens in one physical place.
6. annotated photo: What should I look for onboard?
Show visitors what to look for once they are onboard. Callouts on an approved photo can identify the information display, stop-request control, and other relevant features. A transit team can pair the picture with plain-language directions and reviewed translations. Use the agency’s actual equipment names and verify each label.
AI-generated example. Callouts identify an information display, stop-request button, and aisle in a fictional bus interior.
Try this prompt
annotated photo Create a realistic editorial concept photograph inside a fictional modern city bus. Clear eye-level view from front passenger area toward seating. Visible overhead rectangular information display, a bright yellow stop-request button mounted on vertical pole at middle right, and a wide clear central aisle. Teal seats, blue-green daylight, no passengers or logos. Add exactly three navy labels with thin precise leader lines: 'Information display' ends on overhead screen; 'Stop-request button' ends on yellow button; 'Aisle' ends on floor walkway. Large readable labels in uncluttered areas. Screen blank, no other text or equipment claims.
Refine it
Check each leader line against its target. Keep only labels that clearly identify a visible feature.
For public use, retain the original approved photograph and add editable labels when possible. Verify both the label wording and where each leader line ends.
7. before and after: How could this stop be easier to use?
Give residents and visitors a concrete view of a proposed investment in the public realm. Matching images can show how shelter, seating, and information might change a waiting experience. Use the pair to invite feedback about what would make the stop more useful. Keep a proposal clearly labeled; a concept image does not show a completed project.
AI-generated example. Matching views compare a simple stop with a proposed shelter, seating, and information panel.
Try this prompt
before and after Create two matching side-by-side realistic conceptual views of the SAME fictional neighborhood bus stop. Identical eye-level camera, pavement, street, building background and daylight. Left: simple bus-stop pole and empty paved waiting area. Right: same location with a modest teal shelter, bench, readable-looking but entirely blank information panel, uncluttered wide paved waiting area and one tree behind shelter. Exact headings only 'Existing concept' and 'Proposed concept'. No bus, people, extra text, accessibility symbols, dimensions, logos or dramatic weather change. Warm inviting civic architectural visualization, cream teal blue soft-green palette.
Refine it
Keep the camera and surroundings identical. Highlight only the proposed shelter, seating, and information panel.
Both views are fictional concepts. Label a real proposal clearly and keep the same framing so weather, lighting, or camera position do not exaggerate the change.
One journey, more than one language
The example below pairs English and Spanish with the same six scenes. Keeping the rider and sequence consistent lets a team adapt the language without redesigning the whole guide. Choose languages based on your residents and visitors, and have a qualified reviewer check wording and local terminology.
AI-generated bilingual campaign example. English and Spanish captions share the same visual sequence.
Try this follow-up prompt
Keep the six scenes and the same rider. Add English and Spanish captions in separate lines with equal legibility: Plan your trip / Planifica tu viaje; Wait at the stop / Espera en la parada; Check your bus / Verifica tu autobús; Board when stopped / Sube cuando se detenga; Ride / Viaja; Exit when stopped / Baja cuando se detenga. Preserve the order and allow extra room for longer wording.
For additional languages, make separate readable versions rather than squeezing more text into each panel. Rebuild final captions as editable text, provide a plain-text version, and keep translations consistent across the campaign.
Tell the access story with specific details
Accessibility includes more than language. A traveler may need step-free boarding information, a place to sit while waiting, a readable map, an audio explanation, or a way to plan without a smartphone. Show verified features and explain the remaining steps, including the path from the stop to the destination. Give people the information to judge the journey for themselves.
Work with operations, accessibility staff, and riders to identify the questions the campaign must answer. Include the actual process for requesting boarding assistance, finding accessible service information, and contacting staff. If you show a ramp, mobility-device space, or help button, verify that it matches the vehicle and procedure in service.
Offer the message in more than one form: images with descriptive text, reviewed translations, readable print, and audio or narrated versions where useful. Do not use color as the only signal. Test the materials with disabled riders, multilingual residents, and people unfamiliar with the service.
Clear directions also belong in a public-safety campaign: show where to wait, how to recognize the service, and where to find assistance. Keep those messages tied to the agency’s actual procedures.
Turn the story into an invitation
Build a small campaign around one real trip. Put the route diagram on the destination page, the storyboard in a visitor guide, and the annotated image beside practical rider information. End each piece with a useful next step: plan your trip, view access information, or explore the destination. Offer a short printed address and staff contact as alternatives to a QR code.
Ask residents, visitors, and disabled travelers to review the materials. Can they identify where to begin, explain the next step, and find the information they need? Use their feedback to improve the story before expanding it.
Set goals that match the campaign: trip-planner visits, visitor-guide use, first-time rider feedback, or changes in ridership and destination visits over a defined period. Treat increased tourism and ridership as outcomes to evaluate, not promises made by an image. Start with one place your community wants more people to enjoy—and make the journey part of the welcome.
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