Google Maps/Yahoo Maps: Why Aren't NYC & Wash., DC on the Default Map? | Hacker News Reader

Google Maps/Yahoo Maps: Why Aren't NYC & Wash., DC on the Default Map?

41latitude.com

17 pointsj05300322 comments

Washington DC is there - it's labeled "District of Columbia"

Why not list both the "District" of Columbia and the "city" of Washington on the same map?

While the city of Washington used to exist as a legal entity within the District of Columbia, these days it's all just the District. Including both D.C. and Washington, D.C. on the map would be including two names for the same thing.

If that's true (and Wikipedia says that it is), then Google Maps already uses two names for the same thing:

Map showing the "District" of Columbia: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=40.010787,-78.09082&#...

Map showing the "City" of Washington: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=38.548165,-77.34375&#...

Why not just list them both?

This is amusing and absolutely true.

The small town (population: 120,000) that I grew up appears on Google Maps before NYC or Washington are visible.

Whoa. 120k is a small town these days?

(EDIT: Context: the town in which I grew up would be around number 90 on this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_and_towns_in_Aus... )

Its probably decided by algorithm. It seems to that several states are very small in that area and maybe too many names will obscure state borders.

The point of this post being that these aren't very good algorithms.

And the part of the algorithm that allows suburb-names to outpower city-names is clearly nonsensical.

I wish people also appreciated how incredibly complex and nuanced (semi)automated map labeling can be. It is ridiculous.

We do. It's just that stuff like this is pretty glaring.

Google Maps was released over five years ago now. If it were still in beta, I'd understand, but…

The problem with maps is that they are half art. Who's to say showing New York and Washington DC before showing Philadelphia is best? Maybe their reasoning is that most people already know where New York and Washington are? It is subjective, not a "glaring" bug.

If you really believe that mapmaking decisions are "subjective", then you have no business criticizing other people's "subjective" opinions about how maps should be made.

So what you're saying is this: Maps are hard to make, so don't criticize them.

Just because something was hard to make doesn't mean it should be immune to criticism. Cars, movies, skyscrapers, Windows Vista, etc. are all hard to make, but they are also criticized, and legitimately so. (examples: Ebert, Walt Mossberg, etc.)

How dare a user criticize a product!

Perhaps being an 'important' well-known city counts against being displayed. The more well-known a city is, the less likely you need it to be displayed on the most zoomed-out levels. You know where to click to zoom in if you want to see New York City.

Rather than dismissing Google and Yahoo in favour of Bing, I'd be interested to see if there's any actual user testing in favour one way or the other. Otherwise, it's just uninformed opinion on what 'should' be the best way to use a map.

"Perhaps being an 'important' well-known city counts against being displayed..."

Then why are London, Paris, Mumbai, Shanghai, Tokyo, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco on the same map that New York isn't on?

Because other weighting factors suggested they should be shown.

I wasn't implying a simplistic 'everyone knows where X is, don't show it' system - just that being well known could counter-intuitively reduce the need to show a label at some zoom levels.

This post is yet another example of the incredible inferiority complex of the New York tech scene.

//sarcasm

Honestly, my first thought was:

"To 'thwart' 'terrorists'."

Special request of Homeland Security. If terrorists don't know where NYC and Washington are, then they can't harm us. I can't believe anybody wouldn't be aware of this in these days of heightened awareness.

"Given its immense importance…".

I wonder if Justin O'Beirne lives in NYC?

"Given its immense importance..."

You're seriously going to argue that NYC isn't immensely important?

From Wikipedia: "New York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is one of the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over global commerce, finance, media, culture, art, fashion, research, education, and entertainment. As host of the United Nations Headquarters, it is also an important center for international affairs."

When the aliens came to Earth in "Independence Day", they didn't blow up Philadelphia... they blew up New York.

they didn't blow up Philadelphia... they blew up New York.

That's because they were scared of Philadelphians. We threw snowballs at Santa after all.

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