Sometimes you’re not actually lost – sometimes, you just need a new map. For an old/new perspective, try 8-bit NYC. The creator, Brett Camper, explains his dream of a pixilated world on Kickstarter (where he’s taking donations so he can expand the project to other major cities). In short, the map, which operates using the Google Maps engine, re-imagines the NY boroughs as a Legend of Zelda-type environment. Click, zoom, drag and search by location. If you grew up playing video games and trawling these types of RPG environs, this will strike the right chord. It makes the thought of traveling between NY neighborhoods seem like that much more of an adventure; you know, if the guy who looks like drunken Santa Claus with his pants on his head singing showtunes to his bag of live lobsters on the train isn’t adventure enough.

And for something even further off the beaten path, try Cristoph Niemann’s illustrations (he of Lego New York fame) for his Abstract City blog if you’re in the mood to go ‘hmm…’, which I do mean in a good way.