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Google Maps Public Transit Layer

Google maps has added a public transit layer to its usual images of roads and fuzzy satellite terrain. Just fifty towns around the world are covered.


(Google map showing public transit layer)

Techcrunch adds:

Don’t toss out your Tube map just yet though. These maps are geographically correct, unlike the ones provided my most major metro lines (which are typically simplified for ease of use), so using them to route a trip can be confusing.

This new feature sounds just like the interactive maps from Stanislaw Lem's wonderful 1961 novel Return from the Stars.

...it gave me a little plastic book with four fold-outs, maps of the city's transit system. When I wanted to go somewhere, I touched the silver-printed name - street, level, square - and instantly on the map a circuit of all the necessary connections lit up. I could also travel by gleeder. Or by rast. Or - finally - on foot...
(Read more about Lem's interactive maps)

Now, we just need a good flexible display map reader.

From Techcrunch.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 1/14/2009)

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