By Nathan Weinberg

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:

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)