Google Maps goof results in headache for homeowner

I once submitted a Google Maps trouble ticket.

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.

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.

The Park is mostly to blame here as they link directly to Google Maps despite the error.

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).

Rather than posting signs that say "No Trespassing", perhaps a "The park is this way ->" would've been more effective...

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)

I wanted to go to the airport and Android Navigation directed me to the fence at the end of a runway. But usually it works really well.

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.

An easy solution is to send google the bill for the signage and orange cones.