The creator of Minecraft revealed today that in the next beta update (1.6) you will be able to craft maps for your single player world. Where ever you craft that map it will set the center point of ‘that map.’ Each new area you go to you will have to craft a new map.
Right now Notch says the maps only work in the single player world, but he is working hard to make them available in the multiplayer.
Other than the craftable maps, just a bunch of bug fixes are coming to 1.6.
