[maxwalrath]

I want to create a map of the public transportation system in a foreign city...but I don't know a thing about where to start, and thought someone out there might know something.

Basically, I want a map of Gyumri, a city in Armenia, to look like a subway map of NYC, with all the bus / train routes, but adding points of interest, restaurants, hotels, churches, etc. 

I will have access to Google Earth Pro (but Google doesn't seem to have any street / road info in Armenia available...can it be added??), and probably a bit of a budget that could be used for software, but that's not a certainty yet. I already contacted ArcGIS, who sounds like the industry leader for this kind of stuff, but they will cost a friggin fortune.  Does anyone have an idea how to start something like this from a computer point of view? 

I'm at the very beginning phases of planning, so any ideas / thoughts / suggestions are VERY helpful.  Thanks!!

[BradJudy]

The live.com maps server appears to have road outlines of your city, but not road names.  I'm not sure if that's helpful, but it's more than Google has at the moment. 

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=40.794643~43.849783&style=r&lvl=13&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&encType=1

[woodsyi]

Apparently there are no set routes for public transport in the city.  Taxi will go anywhere according to this site.
http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Gyumri#INTRODUCTION

[maxwalrath]

I was there a few months ago (the guy who sent me on the hiking trip that some of my gallery photos are from is actually Raffi Kojian, the guy who made that map)...there are set bus routes, there's a network of about 25 different ones, it's just that no one's mapped them yet.  (the other problem I hope the maps correct is improving the information available to prospective tourists) 

The city is about 25% larger than the map above shows.  I stayed in a fairly big population center about 2 miles NNW of the top of the map, and that map is to "block-like" and lacking in the detail needed to add restaurants / hotels / other points of interest. 

The live.com map has an impressive amount of detail compared to what Google has.  It is also missing that population center I stayed in.   

That, apparently, is the best map available online though.  I came across a better map while there that I'm trying to get a digital copy of. 

The question is, I guess, whether I can add info to a program like Google Earth like street names, attractions, etc., or if I would be best getting a scan of that map I came across, and using some mapping software to "plot" the transportation routes.