Whether we were stepping back to look at the big picture on housing foreclosures nationwide, or getting micro by visiting a 105-square foot studio apartment in the West Village, 2012 was a year of finding fresh angles for the news, and unexpected ways to tell you about it.

It wasn’t just about when the subways would get back up and running after Sandy – it was also about the stations that have been closed for decades, the rails and tunnels that would stay quiet, the ones you never knew existed.

It wasn’t just about new skyscrapers, or monuments, or convention centers – it was also about the people we see way up on the scaffolding, and the surprising lives they lead back on Earth.

We all knew the job market was bad, but who knew companies were scraping resumes electronically and sealing your fate before a real person ever got to look at your resume? Or that there were ways to beat the system?

Then there were the maps. From stop-and-frisk hotspots in New York City, to sports team owners across the country who made political donations, to local landmarks from your favorite television show, it wasn’t just about telling – it was about showing.

These are just a few examples of our favorite reporting from the past year, the stories big and small that gave us new ways to look at the familiar, or introduced us to the unknown, the unrecorded – secrets we were excited to share.

So in case you missed it, here are ten of our favorite stories of 2012, in no particular order. See you in 2013.

1. Inside the City's Ghost Subway System

2. Sky Walking: Raising Steel, A Mohawk Ironworker Keeps Tradition Alive

3. Map: NYPD Finds Most Guns Outside Stop-and-Frisk Hotspots

4. Map: Is Your Favorite Sports Team for Romney or Obama?

5. Job Applicants: Getting Past the Resume Scanners

6. NYC TV Maps:

• Mad Men’ Mapped: A Guide to NYC Hot Spots Frequented by Our Favorite Characters
• Map - Where to Find the ‘Girls’ in NYC
• ‘Law and Order: Special Victims Unit’ Mapped: Walking the Beat with Benson and Stabler

7. 30 Issues: Visualizing Foreclosure

8. Search Resumes for Missing Schoolboy Etan Patz After 33 Years

9. Take a Tour of a Tiny Living Space

10. Muslims Say NYPD Surveillance Is Already Changing Behavior