Walking and using public transit are usually the best ways to get around most cities, but getting one’s bearings can be frustrating—especially in a new city. The New York City Department of Transportation really gets this and recently unveiled a new series of pedestrian-friendly map kiosks in select areas of the city. Aimed at helping walkers to easily orient themselves, the new maps cannily use the viewer’s perspective instead of the traditional north as up design in most maps.
Both sides of the 8-foot tall information/map kiosks displays a map of the streets within a 5-minute walking distance and another map showing the area in relation to a larger slice of NYC. This new line of street maps will be a boon for tourists, as well as residents of the city who can be just as disoriented as visitors when they leave their neighborhood or borough.
The project utilizes a terrific new version of Helvetica—called Neue Helvetica DOT—developed by Monotype for the maps. There’s also a great set of new helpful icons for the maps.
