A park in my hometown was labelled as actually being in a larger nearby town. In fact, Gogole Maps didn't seem to think my hometown existed (it's not really a small town, either). This wouldn't be a problem, except that after you've searched and found the location you wanted, the discrepancy would cause the permanent link to fail for some reason, making it effectively impossible to send the directions or location to someone else.
So, I filed a ticket explaining the whole situation and forgot about it.
This was in October of 2009. In February of 2010 (long after I forgot about it), I actually heard back with this message:
Your Google Maps problem report has been reviewed, and you were right! We'll update the map soon and email you when you can see the change.
Then, in April 2010:
Google Maps has been updated to correct the problem you reported. You can see the update here, and if you still see a problem, please tell us more about the issue
So, it took quite a while, but they DID actually look into it and fix it.
I just thought that was interesting, given the usual "Google has no humans in customer service" tales.
I had a similar experience. I used to work upstairs from Google Cambridge. Adjacent to the building was a small park. Google Maps would instruct pedestrians to walk around the park and cross where there wasn't a cross-walk.
I submitted a ticket April 6, and it was fixed by May 7.
I submitted one and it was fixed in a few days. It wasn't that complicated though, a business had just moved to the other side of town. I don't think it usually takes months to update the map.
I've been directed to drive through a river to get to a village on the other side. At some point there must have been a ford, but last year it really was just a river. When using navigation software outside of cities I'm extremely careful and try to look up the route before I leave due to these problems in mountainous, barely-habited environments.
Instead of acting disgruntled or indignant why not just post a sign with the correct address or coordinates? She could sell water, sunscreen or snacks since Google is hand-delivering potential customers to her door. Then she wouldn't have to worry about people taking out their frustration on her or her dogs.
It's going to put a lot of wear-and-tear on the driveway, more than what she is likely to make hawking sunscreen. And what happens when no-body is home?
Thanks for the better link. It sheds more light on the story.
I failed to make my point clear. I guess what I took umbrage with is the lack of imagination with which the homeowner tried to solve the problem. You can react negatively to a situation or positively. From the story it appears they reacted negatively, which didn't work.
"No Trespassing" is completely unhelpful and hostile.
"Google Maps is wrong" is better because it at least touches on how the lost driver arrived at their driveway. Then it offers no additional information so the driver sticks with plan A -- follow Google Maps.
The story doesn't say how the homeowner treats the lost drivers either. Maybe she yells "Get off my property !$#@!%&*^$". That would garner a few negative responses for sure. It's a hole in the story.
I Googled "Round Valley Reservoir" like the story suggests and got the reservoir, in the water. So I guess her opportunity is now lost.
We miss the issues that Maps folks really deal with: from shifting borders due to political machinations to geologic shifts in actual coastlines to roads being renamed/converted/shut down to transit stations and public places which are identified only by lat/long and not addresses (Maps themselves don't really care, but humans like addresses for their mental comfort). People are posting false geo-presence to show up in local search (I'm sure we've all read the NYTimes Locksmith piece; it was posted here multiple times). Competitors submit "closed business" on their brethren in an attempt to make it harder for customers to go to them.
And that's just what I heard over beers one night. Like any digital experience, there are lots of folks trying to taint it for their own purposes, commercial, political, religious, or simply to show control and create a lasting legacy by having something named after them.
When you think about all the ways this could all go wrong, I think Google Maps does a pretty good job, all things considering.
You are suffering from the belief that people will actually read. Te best she can hope for is the brain will pattern-match the "No Trespassing" sign and bring it to drivers' attention.
Now, below that, the other sign might help, but, given the instructions came from an authoritative source (Google), I doubt people would believe the sign.
I'll add the obligatory tip of the hat to www.openstreetmap.org - it's community basis and the ease of use of it's editing tools make this kind of issue very easy for users to fix.
And as a bonus, any edits you make to the data aren't owned and copyrighted by a large corporate, but are made available to everyone via a Creative Commons Licence (soon to be ODbL)
30 comments
[ 2.0 ms ] story [ 73.3 ms ] threadA park in my hometown was labelled as actually being in a larger nearby town. In fact, Gogole Maps didn't seem to think my hometown existed (it's not really a small town, either). This wouldn't be a problem, except that after you've searched and found the location you wanted, the discrepancy would cause the permanent link to fail for some reason, making it effectively impossible to send the directions or location to someone else.
So, I filed a ticket explaining the whole situation and forgot about it.
This was in October of 2009. In February of 2010 (long after I forgot about it), I actually heard back with this message:
Your Google Maps problem report has been reviewed, and you were right! We'll update the map soon and email you when you can see the change.
Then, in April 2010:
Google Maps has been updated to correct the problem you reported. You can see the update here, and if you still see a problem, please tell us more about the issue
So, it took quite a while, but they DID actually look into it and fix it.
I just thought that was interesting, given the usual "Google has no humans in customer service" tales.
I submitted a ticket April 6, and it was fixed by May 7.
http://www.google.com/mapmaker/pulse
I've got a Garmin Nuvi and, in general, it's pretty good. In general. Issues I have found though:
* Suggesting that the public driveway to a crematorium was via a motorway
* Mistaking a flyover for a junction and asking me to turn from one road to the other
* Search refusing to acknowledge a road existed until I was actually on it (and being reported as such)
* The same ignorance of barriers blocking roads that regularly gets reported for all devices
This is for a relatively light user of the device. I'm sure there's more, and that they exist for other devices as well.
http://www.stateparks.com/round_valley.html
If you use the 'official' embedded directions form it will take you to this residential area.
http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=washington&daddr=40.61...
Surely the park should have checked this before publishing it (or even better - chosen to embed a map with a correct destination).
Huh? Stateparks.com isn't the "official" site for the park, it's a 3rd-party aggregator of park information from states across the USA.
The official park website (http://www.njparksandforests.org/parks/round.html or http://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/round.html) link to MapQuest to generate directions.
So it's Stateparks.com fault?
Google Maps: http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=10001&daddr=40.6125,-7...
Mapquest: http://mapq.st/n5vNiI
Bing: http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=40.6055769046077~-74.83...
Bing Maps still shows the error if you use the name of the park.
Mapquest, I couldn't get it to find the park at all (it kept trying to find locations near me). I gave up. :-/
Better link: http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2011/07/google_map_brin...
I failed to make my point clear. I guess what I took umbrage with is the lack of imagination with which the homeowner tried to solve the problem. You can react negatively to a situation or positively. From the story it appears they reacted negatively, which didn't work.
"No Trespassing" is completely unhelpful and hostile.
"Google Maps is wrong" is better because it at least touches on how the lost driver arrived at their driveway. Then it offers no additional information so the driver sticks with plan A -- follow Google Maps.
The story doesn't say how the homeowner treats the lost drivers either. Maybe she yells "Get off my property !$#@!%&*^$". That would garner a few negative responses for sure. It's a hole in the story.
I Googled "Round Valley Reservoir" like the story suggests and got the reservoir, in the water. So I guess her opportunity is now lost.
And that's just what I heard over beers one night. Like any digital experience, there are lots of folks trying to taint it for their own purposes, commercial, political, religious, or simply to show control and create a lasting legacy by having something named after them.
When you think about all the ways this could all go wrong, I think Google Maps does a pretty good job, all things considering.
I actually missed it, so for other readers who may have missed it:
NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/your-money/lead-gen-sites-...
HN discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2745975
Now, below that, the other sign might help, but, given the instructions came from an authoritative source (Google), I doubt people would believe the sign.
And as a bonus, any edits you make to the data aren't owned and copyrighted by a large corporate, but are made available to everyone via a Creative Commons Licence (soon to be ODbL)