Sunday, May 10, 2009

You Just Can't Trust Maps

This has been a running theme for me for some reason.  I still don't know why.

Back in the Spring of 2004, I found an error on MapQuest, Yahoo! Maps, Google Maps, Google Earth (uses the same data as Google Maps), and pretty much all that derive from TeleAtlas and NavTEQ.  I was told by all of these places that I had to submit my correction "request" to each of those two services on my own.  I did.   It was finally updated in June of 2007.  A tad bit more than three years it took.  Amazing.

So, today I found another error and submitted it only to Google Maps.  Why?  Because the error only appears on Google Maps and Google Earth.  And this one is a little more interesting.  Rather than just being an incorrect road name, it's an issue where a divided highway is named differently on each side.  How's that!

Go ahead and check this out yourself:

Open up Live Maps, MapQuest and Google Maps.  In each, search for "N. Great Neck Rd" and zoom/scroll downward until you see the intersection with "Virginia Beach Blvd".  In reality (I know this because I pass through that location frequently by car and on a bicycle), it ends at "Virginia Beach Blvd" and turns into "London Bridge Rd" from the intersection and South of that point.  Google Maps shows the South-bound lane as "S. Great Neck Rd" and the North-bound lane as "London Bridge Rd".  Ever seen a road like that in real life?  I never have.

Basically:  There is NO "S. Great Neck Rd" in Virginia Beach.  Never has.

So I submitted my correction to Google today.  I'll check my calendar again when this is actually corrected on their site (if ever).




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