Need to know where in the city is a schlep? Well, at this point it's pretty much everywhere, but Heeb Magazine has come up with this map specifically for the city's Jews. Queens and Staten Island are completely out, and the only parts of the Bronx are where your grandparents lived "before the Puerto Ricans came." Williamsburg gets called out too, with "hipsters to the left, Hasids to the right." But what, no cracks at the Upper West Side? If they revise it with some places to get some quality Nova we'll forgive them. more ›

The NY Times got an advance look at the MTA's latest overhaul of the NYC subway map, which was last refreshed in 1998. The Times, which says the new version is "resized, recolored and simplified," reports, "Manhattan will become taller, bulkier and 30 percent wider, to better display its spaghetti of subway lines. Staten Island, meanwhile, will shrink by half. The spreadsheetlike 'service guide,' along the map’s bottom border, will be eliminated, and the other three boroughs will grow to fill the space." more ›

Finally, we can talk about LOST now—someone has created a subway map for the island, and just in time for the final season. What do you think is more difficult: getting from Williamsburg to Park Slope, or from the Looking Glass to the Orchid? [via John Cabrera] more ›

Though it came out in 2000 for a CAE Gallery show, this NYC subway map interpretation is spreading its seed all over the internet today, giving the tip of Manhattan a whole new meaning. Get the larger (NSFW?) version here—it's good for puns, or just general observations. And sorry to break it to you New Jersey, but it looks like Manhattan's just not that into you (also doesn't look like Manhattan is very well endowed). Wonder what Michael Hertz, designer of the original map, would think of all this. [via Kottke] more ›

Design geeks and subway enthusiasts, time to swoon: Massimo Vignelli, whose beloved and controversial 1972 subway map is in Museum of Modern Art, has updated his map for 2008 for Men's Vogue. Men's Vogue revisited the 1972 map's path:

The plan was as visually utopian as it was elegant — paths running on 45- and 90-degree angles, an understated gray square marking Central Park, and type set in clear Helvetica. It was hailed as an instant classic of graphic design. But it left many feeling stranded. "People expected a map instead of a diagram," Vignelli, 77, says. "But diagrammatic representation is common practice around the world since the London Underground map of the thirties."

Coming up on April 29th is the latest Grand Theft Auto extravaganza. The game wreaks havoc on Liberty City, which is essentially a not-quite-gentrified New York City (though it takes place in the current year). The latest leak from the anticipated game is a city map (we spy Roosevelt Island) and a map of the subway system, which has everyone opining. How does the Rockstar Games version of our 722-mile, 468-station subway system with 22 lines hold up? more ›

Bryan Haggerty created a totally stripped-down version of the NYC subway map, reducing it to "expose the grand complexity of this weaving system of people movers." He writes:This reduction evokes an interesting view into the history, sprawl, and the expansiveness of New York City’s subway. Through abstraction of the subway map, the often spoke of, subway as the arteries of the city, is made unequivocally clear. No borough or neighborhood is given prominence, only... more ›