Google Maps NYC Subway Map could be better

Google Maps has had a “Transit” layer for some time and it used to be empty for New York City.  Not surprisingly, they’ve recently added the NYC subway map illustrating where the different lines run.  It works on maps.google.com as well as Google Maps Mobile on your phone (read about it here).

I’ve been using the subway map from onnyturf.com/subway for years and while that is basically the same thing, a NYC subway map layered over Google Maps, there are some differences. Below I’ve included a comparison of each map showing an identical area around times square.

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Can’t connect for an unknown reason

photo credit: Chris!!!!!

In the case of Windows Mobile, with great power comes great… failure.  My Windows Mobile phone can do some powerful things like watching youTube, remote desktop to my PC or acting as a wifi router but lately every other time I want to do one of those things it “cannot connect for an unknown reason.”

With all the different software configurations I’ve tried on this phone, something always seems to go wrong sooner or later.  After a year of ownership and countless hours of tinkering, I’m not sure if there’s going to be anyway around it.  I can’t help but wonder if Windows Mobile is simply a flawed OS.  Since I don’t want to lock in with AT&T, I’ll be looking to the generation of Android phones to step up.

By the way, the picure above was the 2nd result for my Flickr search “HTC Diamond”… what does that tell you?

BoltBus website goes mobile

photo credit: Mr. T in DC

Hey BoltBus, you’re already awesome for having a beautiful fleet of new buses with Wifi and electrical outlets, offering very competitive prices and doing it all with an air of professionalism.  You’re my “china-town-bus” sans the violence and poop smell and while your name may not be as charming as Double Happiness, you are clearly my first choice in regional transportation.  And now I can buy tickets from my cell phone… nicely done.

Go to boltbus.com on your cell and you will be directed to the mobile site

-from Boltbus.com via Twitter

Google Maps Mobile gets Layers

Wednesday, July 22, was a good day.  Although I just discovered this now, on that day Google released Google Maps for Mobile version 3.2.  The new release adds “layers of fun” to the application.  In other words, you can now show or hide layers which contain information on search results, My Maps, Transit and points of interest from Wikipedia.  How cool is that!?

When I went to Dublin last year I created a My Maps of places of interest.  At that time I printed the map out and labeled the points of interest by hand because that was the only way to take it with me.  Ever since then, I’ve been waiting for Google to put My Maps on cell phones.  I’ve even gone onto the Google product ideas site to vote for it.  Now, not only do we get My Maps integration but more goodies as well.  The Wikipedia feature is a great idea.  Bravo!

Read the official Google Mobile Blog post here.