Google Maps Adds Subway Stations, Buildings

By Nathan Weinberg

Google Maps important places

Google Maps has added a whole bunch of additional data, now showing the locations of major subway stations on the regular maps. They also now feature the names of important buildings, and even the stupid nicknames given to many New York streets. As you can see in the screenshot above, I’ve taken the liberty of adding annoying arrows for every single thing Google has added.

Okay, that might be a bit overkill. Plus, it looks a lot better in hybrid satellite view, reminding me of the familiar Windows Live Maps look:

Google Maps important places hybrid

While Google Maps will never be a substitute for an actual subway map (especially in New York, where the buses are as important as the subways), this is some pretty useful information. At the very least, you can use Google Maps to see what subway stops are near your location, then have an easier time finding it on the subway map.

I’d prefer if Google had gone all-out and created a public transportation layer for Google Maps, or at least Google Earth. Public transportation is as important for driving directions as highways are, and without knowing where the buses and trains are, a lot of people are being left out. I live in New York and don’t drive around, and I’m far from the only one. Sure, there are mashups, but they don’t work as well as they should, and they don’t handle driving directions the way Google Maps does.

Google Maps or Windows Live Maps; whoever adds the trains and buses first is going to win a lot of happy users.

(Oh, and not to beat a dead horse, but Windows Live Maps already had this feature, and theirs looks better.)
(via Digg)

Posted:
February 9, 2007 by Nathan Weinberg in:
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8 Responses to “Google Maps Adds Subway Stations, Buildings”

  1. Matt Cutts Says:

    I do like seeing all the buildings in (say) San Francisco or New York though. It helps you get your bearings.

  2. Hugh Says:

    I agree that Google should add a public tranportation layer, but for now, check out www.onnyturf.com (it’s slow, but it has the subway lines).

  3. Hugh Says:

    I agree that Google should add a public tranportation layer, but, for now, check out www.onnyturf.com (it’s slow, but it has the subway lines.)

  4. Googlified Says:

    Google Maps Update

    Google Maps has upgraded with some fake 3D buildings on the street maps for a number of cities. This feature is useful when searching for distinctive landmark such as the Pentagon.
    Nathan Weinberg over at InsideGoogle reports that Google Maps now disp…

  5. Lifehacker Says:

    Google Maps adds subway stations and prominent buildings

    Google Maps have quietly added subway stations and prominent buildings to maps of New York City, as well as common nicknames for various streets. This is obviously a very helpful feature; hopefully, they’ll roll this out for the rest…

  6. Blog Mirrors » Google Maps adds subway stations and prominent buildings Says:

    […] Google Maps [via Inside Google] […]

  7. aric Says:

    the subway stops are useful but why did they mark them with “m’s? nobody calls it the metro if that’s what they were thinking. they should be marked with the actual subway markers like gypsymaps.com

  8. Lebanese Expatriate Says:

    Wait… is that just for the US? or is Canada included? (Metro)

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