And have a separate version where everything emanates from the Financial District.
Would be AWESOME for comparing commute times when looking at job/apartment locations. You could even add half the interval between trains, to make it even more realistic for planning.
Also, in most transit systems, travel time can depend significantly on the time of day you're traveling. Express trains don't always run and the time between trains increases during off-peak hours.
The official itself is very good for determining location and the nearest T stop to various landmarks. If that fails, then Google maps is even better.
However, this map is damn good for easily and immediately visualizing how long it takes to get from stop to stop.
The way the city is set up, the T lines basically just run out toward other stuff. Only when you are in downtown can you find multiple lines close so most of the time you have only one option if any.
Check this map out: http://mapsof.net/map/boston-metro-map#.UVnvrodOTYg
In NYC, you can usually walk to different lines quickly.
There may be express trains in Boston, but I don't know of any??? I don't use the T to commute, so maybe someone else knows?
http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/files/student_projects/Trans...
http://marlenacompton.com/?p=103
They're also shown in Tufte's "Visual Display of Quantitative Information."
I am trying to choose which station to live near in Tokyo and I wish this existed to compare commute times from the station where I will near.
It's not 100% accurate, but it gives you a rough estimate of time to the Hub vs. rent. In general, the biggest selling point for Boston apartment seekers is proximity to the T and time to commute to the the Financial District (near Goverment Center). Areas near colleges (BU, MIT, Havard, Northeastern) are also high rent because college students eat up most of the housing.
As an active apartment seeker in Boston, the original heatmap data source is generally pretty accurate: http://www.jefftk.com/apartment_prices/index
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I find alternate maps like this fascinating. You really don't need to bother with much of the description though - the maps speak for themselves!