I had WAY too much time on my hands

This was something I did quite some time ago, but last weekend I went back and neatened it up a bit.  What is it?  Good question:

It’s a draft of what a rail-system (aka light rail) would likely have to resemble in order to be remotely useful to the people in Hampton Roads, Virginia.  If you don’t know what Hampton Roads is, or live anywhere near it, don’t bother.  It wouldn’t make any sense to you.  But if you do…

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=106594082281787636274.0004759a491ba30be0478&ct=onebox&cd=20&cad=docsearch,cid:4241414345656300890&geocode=FSg2MQId1X53-w

All of this is moot anyway.  The concept of a rail system connecting more than even two cities, in the next 20 years, is about as likely as me shitting out a cruise missile with Goofy and Mickey hanging onto it.  This area HATES mass transit.  They want cars and crappy roads and bottlenecks, because it gives everyone something to constantly bitch about.  I used to believe people here really wanted a better way to get around.  Scratch that: just a way to get around, period.  Rather than sitting still on backed-up bridges and tunnels and merge lanes and exit ramps, every morning, every evening, even holiday, weekend, lunch hour, and sprinkle or flake dropping.

I was wrong.  Apparently, surveys have shown that very few care about this situation.  Most believe it is as it should be and that it should not be changed, because change is bad.  The slogan here is “yes, we can, but no we won’t”.  If you’re looking for common sense here, keep moving on.  Nothing to see here.

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).

MapQuest link

Live Maps link

Yahoo! Maps link

Google Maps link

Google Earth 5.0 and 10 Year Old Map Updates

Google finally posted Google Earth 5.0 for public download. The changes are really cool, and so far, the performance is noticeably better (faster). It also does the initial home zoom-in more smoothly and with better rendering detail. Very nice indeed. But the first thing I checked was the street in my neighborhood, which was renamed in 1992, but had yet to be shown correctly on any maps. To be fair, Google relies on other sources for their digital imagery map references. I contacted the Google Maps team back in 2007 about this, and they kindly referred me to the two sources as well as providing URLs for their submission forms. I dutifully submitted the correction requests to each service and received confirmations within a week saying that it may take some time to be processed. I checked last in December 2008, and it wasn't updated then. So now it is February 2009 and it's finally been completed! Wow. That DID take a little while.

I'm wondering what is prompting Google to suddenly start to execute projects a bit more promptly than they had been. The economy? Competition? Probably both. I'm sure the specter of layoffs has kicked a lot of their employees into high gear to outdo each other and prove their value internally. That's not a bad thing, for us anyway.