STEFAN WEHRMEYER, a 23-year-old German programmer, has developed a Google Maps application called Mapnificent (harhar). It's pretty cool: it shows you the places in your city that you can reach in a given amount of time using public transport. This, for example, is a map of the places you can get to from the White House within 15 minutes:

Barack Obama, of course, gets around quicker (via motorcade) or a lot slower (if he ever decided to take the Metro). But Mapnificent has some even cooler features—including some that are genuinely useful for planning business meetings or social events. I especially like the feature that lets you look at two intersecting time-based-maps and find coffee shops (or bars, or restaurants, or whatever) within, say, 15 minutes of two different locations. I'll let Mr Wehrmeyer explain:

Mapnificent from Stefan Wehrmeyer on Vimeo.

Andrew Sullivan calls this "a better transit map," and I couldn't agree more. More transport agencies should make their data available openly online so that programmers like Mr Wehrmeyer can develop these sorts of useful tools. And down the road, it'd be great to see public transport agencies really embracing the digital age and hiring smart young programmers and information technology experts to continually improve and expand their online and mobile reach. The easier it is to get information about public transportation, the more people will use it. That's better for the environment, keeps cars off the streets, and encourages denser, more pedestrian-friendly development—and shorter commutes. Huzzah! Check out Mapnificent (it's in public beta for most major American cities and a handful of others around the world) and let us know what you think in the comments.