> Aren't the places Google Maps chooses to highlight a function of your account history?
Google has become good at telling you what you used to know versus what you want to discover
I disagree. Places that I have visited serve as excellent landmarks. I wouldn't want them to be the only thing on the map but having them dusted around makes it very easy for me to know where new places are.
Anyway, Greenwich Village still shows up as a neighborhood label at a range of zoom levels, just not the particular scale for this image.