I noticed earlier this week that Google has added some new features to its already great Google Map site. I’m not sure if these changes have been rolled out gradually city-by-city, but it is now possible to see the outlines of individual buildings and Metro stops.
It appears that the individual buildings feature is limited to major downtown areas. If you scroll a few screens to the right of the image above—to Little Italy—the individual buildings are not shown. I’m not sure if Google plans to add more areas to the map or even more rural areas, but it’s certainly an interesting, if not particularly useful, feature.
The Metro stops are also a nice addition, but without more information (not even a pop-up?) they aren’t very helpful. If they expand this to include bus stops and other public transportation options, this would be a huge improvement over the MTA’s terrible maps and general user-unfriendliness.