No comments about Boston Insight Pocket Maps (Insight Pocket Map).

No comments about Where Boston CityGuide (Where Cityguides).

No comments about American Map Metro Boston Eastern Massachusetts: Street Atlas (American Map).

5 comments about Metro Boston, Eastern Massachusetts, Street Atlas (Metro Boston Eastern Masschusetts Street Atlas)(7th Edition).

1. I purchased this book for my son who is moving to Salem, Mass., from Michigan in August 2006. He took it with him when he went apartment hunting and said it was "a great help." He also used it to explore Boston. He found it to be very detailed. He liked the fact that it is spiral bound, staying open easily on the needed page. For myself, I found the print just a tad too small, but being 52, my eyesight is not what it was... My son did not find this a problem. In fact, he felt that with bigger print, the book would be increased in size unfavorably.



2. If you're going to Boston and don't know you're way around, you will need this book. You will need to sit down and really look at it, and then keep it with you. If you get lost, don't try and use logic or common sense to unravel your path. Just pull over and get your map out, and make a plan before you try and inch your way back into traffic.
   
   This has got to be the most user-unfriendly town in America. If you are not from here, good luck trying to get around. Even my buddy with GPS gets lost because the thing cannot react fast enough, and doesn't know how to convey directions such as "stay in the left lane, lane markings will disappear and reappear later on slightly different planes, but stay left because the road will suddenly split, but then immediately take a left turn, but not the first left but the slightly more obtuse left turn radiating from just ten yards further down the street." If you a make a mistake, do not imagine for a moment that you can fix it easily. You can go on unimaginable adventures just trying to turn around. For example, if you want to make a left on to Mass Ave from Somerville road, well, you just can't, but that shouldn't be a big deal, you just make a right and find a place to turn around. However, you will literally drive from city to city before you find a place to turn around. I know everybody thinks their own town is eccentric, but Boston is hands down the most passive-aggressive city to newcomers or visitors. Streets change names multiple times in a short stretch, have different names on different sides of the street, all while multiple streets will have the same name. Which is all irrelevant because if you are fortunate enough to see a street sign, it is probably too late to react to it. People here don't seem phased by it, they are often surprised to find out that other cities are laid out in a grid, where the streets hit each other at right angles, four corners only per intersection, and you can actually point yourself in the direction of where are going and find your way there with reason and will alone.
   
   These maps are a nice guide for pedestrians too. And, actually, walking is the easiest way to get around Boston. The challenge of course for pedestrians would still be the Boston drivers. If the cars do stop before hitting you, the drivers will give you a look that let's you know that you've been fortunate. It's a look that says, "I'm not going to hit you with my car, but please understand that this is a choice I have made, at great sacrifice. Your life is henceforth a privilege I've granted you."
   
   One more little thing that complicates getting around Boston. Let's do this in the form of a quiz. Give your best guess at how to pronounce the following neighborhoods: Berlin, Billerica, Cochituate, Leicester, Leominster, Peabody, Woburn, Worcester. Aren't you silly, where y'from, Iowa?



3. American Map consistently produces the best atlases (ADC's atlases are ususally a close second), and this is incontestably the best available resource for navigating the streets of Boston and its suburbs. The Boston area is intelligently divided here into maps for each of the city's neighborhoods and outlying communities, and the detail is rich and reliable throughout. But the best aspect of this atlas, like any other from American Map, is the clarity and simplicity it achieves in spite of its detail. Highly recommended.



4. This atlas has excellent maps of Boston and suburban communities. It was a big help on my recent trip to the Boston area. The main distraction is it's a book of individual town maps colated alphabetically. As you drive across the area, you have to page between different maps in the book, and I couldn't find coverage of two spots that fell between towns. I find it easier to use an atlas laid out on a grid system like the San Diego County Street Guide published by Thomas. There is a guide map showing the grid making it easy to find the page to go to. As you travel east or west, you just turn the page for a continuation of the map. North-south travel is a bit more difficult; you have to look at the top or bottom of the page for the page number to go to next. DeLorme atlases are designed this way, too. The Metro Boston Atlas has some page number references to adjoining maps, but many are missing.



5. Great book for those visiting or moving to Boston. A bit large to carry around.

No comments about Pocket Map and Guide Boston (EYEWITNESS POCKET MAP & GUIDE).

1 comments about American Map New England: Road Atlas: Connecticut - Massachusetts - Rhode Island - Maine - New Hampshire - Vermont (American Map).

1. This book was great for helping us get around the interstates and highways. It doesn't have much in the way of smaller town road maps making getting around in small New England towns a bit more cumbersome. But I do recommend the book for anyone planning a trip to multiple New England states.

4 comments about Not for Tourists 2007 Guide to Boston (Not for Tourists).

1. The wallet-sized "Not For Tourists 2007 Guide to Boston" may have been written specifically for the city native, but it's also very informative for the occasional visitor. Approximately 40% of the book contains maps of each city neighborhood and of Boston's surrounding locations. Each map is marked with icons for transportation, essential needs, and tourist musts. To help with finding specific addresses, cross-streets are even used in the address locater.
   The "Not For Tourists 2007 Guide to Boston" assumes that you know what you're looking for, but you just don't know how to find it. No city-related fact is left out and all of the information is extremely current. The print is tiny, but nothing a good pair of reading glasses can't handle. Enjoy.



2. I didn't even try to read it. The print is TINY!



3. NFT is very useful as portable yellow pages with a map when you're in a new neighborhood. It's less useful as a tourbook for actually telling you what to do. When new to an area, though, it's great since it details everything in the area (banks, restaurants, whatever) and has superhelpful transportation maps for bus routes.



4. I just moved to Boston, and this book has been incredibly helpful in my (carless) explorations of the city. I bought my own after having monopolized my friend's copy for two weeks.
   
   It has detailed maps of many different areas of Boston including one-way streets, parks, and the locations of T stops. It's one of the few maps I've seen that actually does a good job integrating the street map with the T maps. It is sturdy for carrying around with you, and has this handy band that keeps it from flying open in your bag. And there's a fold-out map of the whole city in the back!
   
   The entire first half of the book is devoted to maps by neighborhood: a short description, and listing and locations of the following: restaurants, stores, grocery, museums, libraries, cafes, DONUT places (wow!), community gardens, gas stations, post offices, car rental... almost anything you can think of. No Goodwill listings, though. That's ok.
   
   In the second part of the book you get elaborations on many of the above. Restaurant and bar prices, hours, addresses and very brief reviews, what to expect at different museums, bus etiquette, historic sites, a yearly calendar of events, and so on.
   
   I've shown it to quite a few people and they've all been very impressed at the thoroughness of the maps. My only complaint would be that although they have the bus routes, they do not show you where the individual stops are-- you have to check MBTA for that. Other than that, I don't know what I'd do without this book!!

5 comments about Boston Popout Map: Greater & Downtown Boston, Beacon Hill, Harvard Square, Subway (Popout Map).

1. This little number is about the size of a cd, but opens up like a childrens pop-up book. It features the city center, surrounding areas, subway routs, streets and places of interest. This is the only map you will need for your trip and is unobtrusive enough to open up and not look like a tourist. The freedom trail is clearly marked along with other historical items. Grab it!



2. I've bought this popout map for my visit to Boston and found it quite useful. I now have 3 or 4 of these for different cities and like the idea that I can stick it in my back pocket and pull it out when I need it. I do have to remember to bring reading glasses, however, the print can be difficult to read otherwise.



3. I bouth this for an early fall trip to Boston and used it 100% of the time over all other maps. Its small and convienient and fits right in your pocket.



4. I have used this map on two visits to Boston thus far. I was able to find everything I needed and the nice thing was I didn't have some bulky map to carrying around and unfold looking like the fish out of water tourist. It fit right into the back pocket of my jeans. I also loaned it to a friend for her trip to Boston and she raved about it as well. Buy the map and enjoy Boston!



5. This is what my wife and I used to get around Boston and Cambridge with for a week. It fits in your pocket, is concise and up to date. It doesn't matter where you are from in the world - this takes up no room and is the only map you will need.

1 comments about Not for Tourists 2008 Guide to Boston (Not for Tourists Guidebook).

1. This book is simply the best book for getting around Boston and doing it quick. If you move quick and travel lite, this is for you - an essential carry along. [...] I love this book....

2 comments about Streetwise Boston Map - Laminated City Street Map of Boston, Massachusetts - with integrated trolley lines & MBTA subway map.

1. Admittedly, that's all these maps are supposed to be for, but still, given the importance of Cambridge to the greater Boston area, a bit more effort might have been made to squeeze in more of it - at least up to Harvard Square. That's a fairly minor quibble, though, and this map shows the usual Streetwise quality in all other respects. The colors of the MBTA subway lines on the map aren't quite right, but they're close enough for government work, and the street index is its usual indispensible self. If you're coming to Boston, snag one of these - they're much hardier than paper maps, and very clear.



2. The print on this map is just way too small for over-40 eyes! So if you're in that age group...forget this map.