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Catching Satnav Errors On Google Street View
Barence writes "Most of the satnav companies allow users to report errors with their maps, but do they ever get fixed? PC Pro's Paul Ockenden uses Google StreetView to highlight glaring and dangerous flaws in Tele Atlas maps — which are used by TomTom and Google Maps itself — but the company has failed to respond to numerous reports of map errors posted over the course of several years. 'About half a mile from where I live, a Tele Atlas-based satnav will instruct you to turn off at a junction where there's only an on-ramp,' Ockenden reports. 'I've witnessed some confused and dangerous driving at this junction as people try to find the non-existent exit, so I wouldn't be surprised if major mapping errors like this are a danger to road safety.'"
Drive Southbound on Route 3 in MA with a route in your GPS that has you headed South on I-495, and you'll be presented with three routes that tell you to get off Route 3 well before I-495 despite the fact there's a perfectly good direct ramp there.
How'd this happen? Your GPS is pre-programmed with the "fact" that that offramp is constantly backed up and therefore you should seek alternate routes. However, that's absolutely not true. How'd this mistaken info get there? Residents of the area intentionally caused traffic disruptions on the days years ago when GPS mapping companies were in the area so that people would be routed further away from their homes. The trick worked, and the mistaken info remains on the maps.
There's got to be a better way to confirm the existence or non-existence of such must-avoid intersections.
The original GPS maps were confirmed by Google-like driving of every road in the nation with a GPS enabled vehicle that recorded where it was and the fact that there was in fact a road there. Now, with the ability to build 2-way communication GPSes, why can't maps be generated by "I didn't know there was a road there... what's the name of the road you used there?" interactions that upload the results to a central server? This would be a great way to map the private roads many people use to connect from the public street to an office or mall.
A great new ice cream place opened up a few years ago on the far side of a field that's behind the neighbor's houses that I can see out my window. Now, here's the problem... Google Maps keeps putting the restaurant icon on the wrong side of the field, leading people who are looking for the ice cream place to drive up my residential street looking lost. Plot the icon on the satellite map, and you'd think it's a shed behind a house... nope that's not right.
And make your own maps with open street map
...there is no sig...
That's why I always like to use the satellite photos on Google Maps, to make sure that access roads on the map are actually there. Streetview helps too, especially since the map doesn't indicate whether an intersection with a major road has a full traffic light, or if I'll be stuck on a dinky little road trying to turn onto a six-lane highway with my view blocked by overgrown bushes.
'About half a mile from where I live, a Tele Atlas-based satnav will instruct you to turn off at a junction where there's only an on-ramp,'
FYI: That moderately sloped grassy area along most on-ramps is commonly known as an "alternate off ramp".
Today Google was directing me onto New Hamsphire Route 3. My Droid had fun pronouncing that one. Okay, it's not as interesting a mistake as a road that should, or shouldn't be there. In that regard, I found that for a long time, Google wouldn't stay on Route 2 outside 495 in Massachusetts. It would take you off the highway in Ayer, and put you right back on in Shirley. But it couldn't be convinced of the continuity of the road.
Michael J.
Root, God, what is difference?
Some companies have been using a buzz button to report speed cameras, why not something that simple to just report any kind of problem (when you're driving and trying to find another route, you surely don't feel like writing a nice feedback form at the same time.)
When google maps first came to australia, i decided to have a look at the route from my wife's (then gf) house to my house. It mapped out a route that instructed me to drive off a bridge into a street below the bridge as the "shortest" route.
In subsequent versions of that map it was corrected.
...You know. Those colorful paper diagrams your parents used?
Maybe y'all should learn to use them instead of driving into people's houses just because the GPS said "turn right".
...to figure out where you need to go, look at a map, and determine how to get there on your own? I've driven 2000 miles before with nothing more than a list of interstates.
My street has a make believe name in Google Maps and on my Tom-Tom. The next street over has my street's actual name. The real name of the next street over doesn't appear anywhere.
I've submitted corrections to Google and to Tom-Tom several times over the last couple of years to no avail.
I used to be Pizza guys and Fedex knew the area. Now they all rely on GPS and I get 'couldn't be delivered' notes in my mailbox. Which is on my street. The one no-one else can find.
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
Here is what i would like to see. More options in planning trips. What is the safest route that avoids, for instance, single lane mountain roads or highways with no median. Or how can I get from a to b without going through neighborhoods. Google lets you change your path, but you must know what the conditions are like before hand. This would be very expensive to implement, but would differentiate better than celebrity voices.
There is also a next step for creative companies.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Have seen several directions to use alleys, that are closed with barricades, or to turn left into oncoming traffic! I reported, they ignored! I can't wait for the new vehicles that will be automatic navigated machines, to take over the roads, and try to follow all these screwed up directions!
Look out of the Window. But maybe if people trash their car it's the best way to teach them that not everything on the internet is true?
no sig
Because cars are not driven by computer, any driver that is remotely conscious of his surroundings would be able to spot the difficulty with trying to utilize paths that are clearly not intended for anyone to utilize.
And any driver who is liable to cause an accident because of this sort of thing is likely already a public menace for driving without due care and attention in the first place, so I do not think that this creates any significantly additional opportunity for traffic accidents beyond what already exists.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
TomTom looks at you as a dangerous crowsource-er.
Google has highly credible drivers and TomTom has uhhh me...
Thats why I want to build a site called lets say, "streetcred", showing who the heck I am.
Then all my online contributions will be measured for correctness...
Shamless plug.
Add speed limits in your area project.
BTW, you can only use Google-Street-view N times per day. They know people like you want to "mine" their data
(Lincoln MA Gear Ticks use Google Street View to mine data) and they throttle such activity! Too bad....
There are 4 million miles of public road in the US.
If you submit an error in the mapping system it has to be confirmed - your complaint simply can't be taken at face value - otherwise you will have cranks, hackers and hoaxers transforming the mapping system into Carmageddon.
But some changes to work in... for the longest time they had a primary road going up AND down the one way street I live on. They fixed it after reporting it and pointing out their error. NOW... if I can just them to stop showing Orangeville, Ohio as Orangeville, PA... that really messes up directions for people.
Driver: Hm, where is my turn...
Michael Dorn GPS: Prepare to turn right.
Driver: But there's no exit here....
GPS: Accelerate to ramming speed.
Driver: Good thing I took the Prius...
GPS: Today is a good day to die!
Funny how prevalent this problem of people driving off on-ramps using to be a couple years ago... Oh wait, it really wasn't.
I find it interesting that now that people have 'help' navigating, they've suddenly lost the ability/interest to actually read road signs, much less maps.
We're now becoming lemmings to our SatNav. In a couple years, a simple virus directing all SatNavs to drive off cliffs will probably take care of any overpopulation problems for some time.
Don't get me wrong, I've caught myself being lulled into that false sense of security, but it sure is shocking how quickly we've stopped navigating since we've got a computer to do it for us.
Next thing you know, people will stop making fire by rubbing two sticks together and be dependent on 'matches' or some other new-fangled gidget
Look up 5357 DeLongpre Ave, 90027. My car is the tan Escort with the roof rack and the bag over the back window. Alas, it's engine blew last month going cross country and I junked it in Oklahoma City.
...try landing on the main runway at Christchurch International Airport in New Zealand!
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&Christchurch+8061,+New+Zealand&ll=-43.482072,172.539296&spn=0.022794,0.051713&t=h&z=15
"Everyone always wants new things. Everybody likes new inventions, new technology. People will not be replaced by machines. In the end life and business are about human connections. And computers are about trying to murder you in a lake. And to me the choice is easy." -Michael Scott, The Office
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yyKrS8jwSY
Reporting the errors is the only way to get Google to fix 'em, even if they don't respond to every one. I've reported one so far and they fixed it.
Hi [name],
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: Link to view and/or reopen issue
Report history
Problem ID: [redacted]
Your report: [redacted]
--
Thanks for your help,
The Google Maps team
...try landing at Christchurch International Airport in New Zealand
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&Christchurch+8061,+New+Zealand&ll=-43.482072,172.539296&spn=0.022794,0.051713&t=h&z=15
I wish we had that kind of GPS navigation in the US. *sigh*
Who's surprised that a free service doesn't fix bugs right away. . .or ever? Would you?
Imagine, you spend thousands of hours, and tens of thousands of dollars to put together a service that you then spend way more money to maintain. Of the millions of data-points, a few thousand are very wrong. But no one who reprots them pays you any money whatsoever.
Would you fix them? Who the hell cares.
Take your free service, and your free information, and enjoy your false positives and your false negatives.
If you don't like the quality of someone's product/service, you are always welcomed to provide your own. You can do it better. You may have to spend more. More time, more money, more expertise. But you'll care more. And that's what counts. So go ahead. Do it. Make the world a better place. Because current mapping technology is just terrible and you can do it better.
Hey, it'll improve my life if you make the world a better place. So go ahead.
But stop complaining about other people's products and services.
In short: take what you want, and leave the rest.
At the highway exit I use to go to work, there are frequently people who exit northbound, drive under the overpass, and get right back on southbound. There are a LOT of vehicles doing this. Far more than the occasional person who missed their exit could account for. The only thing I've ever been able to come up with is that it's a result of some funky SatNav routing. An exit three miles south, there is no simple way to continue west. It must have decided that was the best way to minimize distance traveled on surface streets.
My father is a truck driver. Owner-operator, for the most part, although he occasionally employs a few people.
In my current IT job that involves doing on-site support occasionally, he recommended Hudson's Street Atlas. It's about $30 at any truck stop.
I have a copy from 2006. It's still better at finding roads than Google Maps. The other day I was doing an on-site at a house, and I mentioned how the road wasn't on google maps. The owner mentioned the road was almost 50 years old. Hudson's street atlas had it, that's how I found it.
(No plug for Hudson's, btw. I bet their largest competitor has the same street in their atlas. And I've seen this same problem with GPS units. They lack roads the dead tree Hudson's atlas I own has. Sometimes, as with computers, the slightly less userfriendly interface (dead tree) is aimed towards professionals.)
Google Maps used to find my home town (Geneva, OH, USA) just fine. Now, Google Maps displays it half a state away.
At first, this was a minor annoyance, until my mail started being delayed from time to time. Apparently, a number of places took the perfectly good address and ZIP code I gave them and decided to use the ZIP code from Google Maps instead.
This issue has been submitted to Google repeatedly, and more than half a year later, nothing has been fixed. Don't ask us to point out mapping problems if you're not going to do anything about it, Google.
That's why I like and use Waze for my smartphone. Free client available for many GPS-enabled smartphones, free up-to-the-minute traffic, automatically reroutes you to avoid that traffic, routes you the quickest way at any given time. You can log into the web server and fix any map problems yourself if you like, or simply flag problems and an 'area manager' will get to it when they can if you're in an area that already has area managers. You can even create maps from scratch if you don't have a basemap available in your area, which is exactly what many people have done in many countries all over the world. In some cases you have to hang in there until critical mass is reached, but in many places that time has already come and gone and Waze is working wonderfully. Definitely worth checking out. I don't drive anywhere without it, literally, as you never know when it'll save you some time. And sometimes a LOT of time.
Google's office in Irvine, CA on Google Maps is more than a mile from its actual location. The office specifically tells its visitors to disregard Google Maps directions when they want to visit it.
Sounds like the GPS in my car - long story short, despite the fact that the GPS CLEARLY shows that there's a freeway there (and even IDs it as I'm driving down it), it constantly redirects me to take the surface streets mile after mile after mile. The absolutely only time it might be faster to take surface streets in that instance would be at 4-5PM on a weekday (but even then the freeway might be faster).
The crazy part? It also insists that I go an entirely different direction down this route to begin with (down a different freeway), which would be a good 10-15 miles out of my way. And it's not like the shortest route was built recently either - it's been around for at least 5 years now. The route it wants me to take instead? Only been there for 2.
Google Maps on the other hand sends me down the proper route. Go figure.
Waze lets you do just that, and much more. People all over the world have been busy mapping their countries where no basemaps exist. People all over the world have been correcting and updating existing basemaps, too. Plus it monitors traffic in real-time, updating routes for those that are affected by the traffic at that time. And much more. I don't drive anywhere without Waze active on my iPhone. It's also available for many other smartphones that have GPS receivers in them. And it's free. Anyone can help make the maps better, simply by driving with it on, or by actively editing the map on the web server.
Waze lets you fix stuff like that in a matter of a few seconds. You can update info such as that right in the client on your smartphone, or you can edit it later on the web server. If it's a pretty well-established area of the map you may have to submit the change to have it looked after by an area manager, but it will actually get looked after, and probably very quickly.
The first time I used my TomTom I was sent into a field close to my destination. "Turn left," it said, leaving me very surprised. It turned out later that there was a small road there in better times. I often have problems of this kind, even though I keep the thing up to date as much as I can.
-- Cheers!
Go read the documentation on openstreetmaps.org. Map companies put incorrect data in there on purpose to detect and prevent copying. This is why someone at OSM didn't just write a script to copy the whole thing at once, and why their maps have to be created manually.
When I got my drivers license, they asked me to take a right and a left and _I_ had to decide if I should drive straight-on if they said nothing. If a person next to me says that there is no traffic on his side of the car when crossing, it still is _MY_ responsibility as a driver.
When driving with my satnav on, I KNOW it will be wrong at times, so I still look at traffic signs and what not outside.
When I look at articles like this or this I get a bit angry. Again something where people try to blame others for their own stupidity.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
After acquiring my iPhone, the thought of using it for car navigation, at least in a pinch, was too good to pass up. Although MotionX charges a fee for turn by turn directions, it works great and with far fewer errors than Tom Tom's maps. I brought it home to Ketchikan, AK where the Tom Tom's maps are useless (big datum error has all roads shifted south quite a ways) and it (Motion X) worked perfectly. I used it in the Pacific Northwest over a period of about a month with nearly perfect results, save for downtown Seattle where, had I not actually known where I was going from having lived there for a few years, it would have steered me pretty far afield.
In any event, it is nice to have for those times when I need directions, but didn't think to bring the Tom Tom along. I just hold the iPhone (in its Otterbox case) high up on the steering wheel with one hand. It keeps my head up and both hands on the wheel. I like the maps as much, actually more, than the Tom Tom map prenentation.
Also, I too tried sending Tom Tom some corrections regarding my Seattle area neighborhood when I lived there. The Tom Tom maps never updated to reflect my (easily verified from a satellite view) suggestions.
Note: I have absolutely no connection to MotionX whatsoever, other than having purchased a retail copy.
These directions used to tell you to turn right at 7th street, then left at G street. The street view left hand turn into the chain link fence and non-existent road was particularly hilarious but probably not dangerous.
I reported this back in March and checked on it a couple of times, but only just now when I checked was it fixed. So it probably took three months or so for it to be corrected. Probably not too bad considering how big Los Banos is. In this case looking at the satellite view would have saved me a few minutes, as the sat view would have conflicted with the old map that had G St running from 4th through to 7th.
Need I remind anyone of James Kim? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kim There have been several other people that have been lost in that part of Oregon before and since due to map errors. We just need more devices that use freely updatable maps. My car's GPS system costs about $300 for a new map DVD because of licensing. MAPS! Why can't Google completely open it's data and make this all free? MS could probably do this too. Car companies would be all over that, since any errors could be easily fixed via an update, and limit their liability if there was a significant flaw in mapping data on a licensed DVD. Hell, why not just store the friggin maps on a thumb drive that can be easily/quickly updated via the net?
Those colorful paper diagrams your parents used
When I was younger and went hiking quite a lot, I'd save up the extra and buy the cloth maps at inch-to-the-mile scale from Ordinance Survey. They actually weren't much more expensive than the paper maps, but had equal resolution (excellent quality lightweight cloth) and could survive bad weather and bad handling a lot better. I don't recall seeing a cloth map in a very long time.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
OK, it's more of an annoyance than a bug but I really wish computer maps (all of them) would allow more detail to be shown while zoomed out. I understand why that might be a problem in urban areas but for those of us who live/travel in rural areas it would really be nice not to have to zoom so far in just to see the name of the only other road within 20 miles of me etc.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=California,+United+States&daddr=Japan&hl=en&geocode=&mra=ls&dirflg=w&doflg=ptm&sll=34.887365,-170.58489&sspn=75.78003,158.027344&ie=UTF8&z=3
I noticed one of the streets in my town was named something other than what Google Maps said it was named, and submitted a report. About 2 weeks later I got an e-mail saying that I was right, it was fixed, and should show up soon. About a week after that the map was correct. Honestly I never expected it.
Before too much heat is put on google and the like, it is the responsibility of the local jurisdiction to provide accurate mapping, at least in the USA.. The case above is may be a raster to vector issue, however most of the 'the road we're driving on isn't on the map' and other inaccuracies is because the local municipality has not yet distributed the new maps and/or may have missed the last set of map updates or distributed them with the errors.
Keep talking about how dangerous DWN (driving with navigation) is, that way this nanny state government can outlaw it too...
If this is a nanny state, then why would they outlaw something that nannies people? Personally, I drive with my eyes aimed outside the window.
And don't give me this crap about how truckers are the best drivers in the world. In my experience, truckers are some of the WORST drivers I have ever seen. Granted, they can also be some of the best, but I see them do some really stupid shit all the time. No common fucking sense.
Someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool.
> Google used to use Navteq, which for where I lived provided very
> accurate and up to date data. Ever since they switched to Teleatlas,
> it was a step backwards.
This switch of mapping companies has been going on for, what? circa 10, 14 months? Something like that. I read somewhere, and have surmised that the switch was for cost reasons, and or not to aid a competitor. Although I can't recollect how that is precisely so. NavTeq's owned by Nokia, something ties in there somewhere.
Toll road information was the !most! glaring drawback from the switch to Teleatlas. The New Jersey Turnpike corridor (I-95 in NJ) was for six plus months _not_ marked as a toll-road! So was the Garden State Parkway, your road. But did you notice that concurrent to this change that a "Report a problem" link was added to lower-right corner of the map? It was. Seems to me Google wanted the lower rates, or the right to keep its own users' maps changes, or not pay, or license over to Teleatlas those valuable near omniscient user changes. Those changes and additions are of great value to me, and to Google's properties' services I have no doubt. They are a an impressive differentiator over Mapquest (a site with SUPERIOR routing algorithms), and MS Maps offerings.
IOW, as I see the Google calculation was: Yes the change of mapping company hurts us, our accuracy, but our users (little minions?) will fix the errors in short order, so let's add an error reporting link shortcut in the map itself. Prior to that the error link was several clicks away, or on the upper top near the print link (not a prime real estate location) maps screen. I don't subscribe to the "oh! the sky is falling, Google's now evil because they captured some fractional wifi data; because they make cellphones; etc." histrionics but, man, I use Google Maps with a vengeance so this 'development', evolution sours me with Google. *sigh*
I guess it's time to change the laws in the light of the new tech developments and ban from driving anyone caught dirving comanded by a machine.
http://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
I bought a TomTom because it was Linux-based, and I've highlighted errors to TomTom for years. Tele-Atlas maps are, in my experience, pretty dreadful in their coverage of Ireland: my road doesn't even exist on it, so I can't even tag "home" on the TomTom device. That device is now relegated to main-roads-only driving, and instead I use my iPhone with maps from openstreetmaps.org for accuracy.
I have been reading some answers to the OP and I've though I should clarify some things:
- Google uses a lot of own-collected data, and when they have no data they use information from Teleatlas
- GPS is *not* the same as "navigation system". What you use to get driving directions is a "navigation system", not a GPS.
- GPS is is typically used to refer to the American satellite constelation that your navigation system uses to get your position. However, its proper name is "Navstar" or Navstar/GPS
- The general term for satellite constellations used for global positioning is called GNSS, which stands for Global Navigation Satellite System. This includes Navstar, Galileo, Glonass, Compass, etc.
- Navstar/GPS is *not* a two-way communication system. It was not designed that way and it will likely never be.
1. GPS has errors. Sometimes you are projected on a adjacent road. Your device will try to correct this by projecting you to the nearest road. I bet that without these kind of corrections roads will not be strait. GPS systems that are connected to the CAN-BUS of your car carry a huge premium.
2. You can go off-road. Or take the GPS out of the car and walk (maybe not in America, but in Europe we walk and bike...;) )
3. You need a extensive user interface for this that is not build in weekend of hacking. Image a 2d version of wikipedia. (and some intelligence will be needed or your GPS will guide you to Penis road.). Teleatlas does not have it, google is just starting.
My frustration is generally with how my Garmin always tries to route me directly through downtown Seattle whenever I want to go to the Northern part of the city (such as the Toyota dealership on 8th Ave). It'll do this during rush hour ignoring a much faster route of zipping up Boren Ave, which has far less waiting on traffic lights. Trip time for veering off into downtown can be 15 to 30 minutes depending on time of day. The Boren Ave route can be 10 to 15 minutes. The Garmin seems to weight city blocks inaccurately for calculating true trip time.
Camping on quad since 1996.
I have reported an issue with the road I live on to Tele Atlas three times over the past three years. Every time, they acknowledge it, but their status page (nice idea) never shows any further progress. Three years. A quick scan of the forums shows my case is not unique.
Navtech acknowledged my report and changed their maps the next year. However, they do lose points for having corrected it many years ago, and then reverting it. No problem, it's fixed now.
Living on a dead end road is nice, until you get a full length trailer truck trying to turn around on your lawn because his satnav said the road went all the way through.
Printed commercial map companies often include minor errors to prove ownership of their work. Here in Dallas Mapsco publishes annual hardcopy detailed street maps in book form and there are minor errors on every page put there intentionally. A newspaper article mentioned that they try to do things that wouldn't affect usage such as place a small named island in the middle of a lake.
Pshaw, cloth? Fibres? Get thee some lambs and goat-kids and make vellum. That's what real maps need.
More seriously, look at that paper map. See how many errors it contains? There are whole *towns* built since my last paper-map refresh.
I noticed a number of errors on my Garmin which I confirmed were also in Google and reported them via the NAVTEQ Map reporter (http://mapreporter.navteq.com/) I thought at first that it was great that I could help, but after a few months of no action on my entries I sort of gave up on the site. Finally a year and a few month later I got replies from them for all of my submissions all at once. I don't know if they lack the field staff to verify entries or what but it was a bit odd given that I didn't submit them all at the same time. I even provided GIS maps and satellite photos but it still took over a year for corrections. It's a perfect crowd sourcing opportunity even for the commercial vendors.
As of this weekend, there is a sinkhole where one of the highways used to be. I don't have a GPS, but I bet that they are still telling people to drive over the sinkhole. They'll probably figure out a detour about the time the hole gets fixed.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
http://maps.google.de/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Timmelsjochstra%C3%9Fe%2FB186&daddr=SS44bis&hl=de&geocode=FeKzywIdZqWoAA%3BFWJ_ywId9tepAA&mra=mi&mrsp=1&sz=12&sll=46.873336,11.077309&sspn=0.19175,0.445976&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=12
And I never found a way to tell Google about it...
They already featured this story on NBC's hard-hitting newscast, "The Office."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yyKrS8jwSY
The article begins with "Paul Ockenden calls for Tele Atlas to use Street View to take a look at the mapping errors he's reported - and then fix them"
But I've noticed that even Street View is in error. A certain address may be close to where it really is one day but off by a half mile or more the next. So what good is it to correct errors in Tele Atlas maps with errors in Street View?
Both systems have bizarre numbering methods it seems: Since when does the 3600 block sit between the 2600 block and the 2700 block of some road which ends at 3520?
Where I am, I have the dubious privilege of directing people to the correct destinations when their GPS and Google Maps directions get them lost. Every day a lot of truckers also get lost, given the wrong directions by their GPS and are forced to make u-turns in the middle of the barely-wide-enough highway to get back on the correct route. Luckily they have their CB radios to get sorted out.
If Tele Atlas and Google Maps are depending on each other and if one's data is bad, then it propagates to the other, with obvious results. And I don't get why addresses drift around from day to day. Stuff that! A Thomas Guide remains one of the most accurate street level maps available (here in the US). It's far more reliable and it costs less than a GPS.
me. --a by-product of public education
Note that Google doesn't use Tele Atlas anymore in the United States. They've switched to using Streetview data.
Its not just there, its in all areas - they start something and they never finish it. Its fairly pathetic.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
...ironically it was on my way to the hotel that Google had reserved for me prior to my interview.
Of course it might have something to do with the fact that the illegal left turn was in San Francisco which is in Google's back yard and thus many Googlers probably live so they might be more inclined to fix the problem.
If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
I've lived two places in a rural county in Virginia (population 7000). The first place Google originally plotted correctly. A year later, it couldn't be found. I submitted an error. They "corrected" it. The location now plots, but only if the you enter street, state, and zip. Put in the town's name (really, just a crossroad and a post office name), and the place can't be found. Both locations are correct on Yahoo! Maps and MapQuest. (Oh, and the neighbor's quarter mile long driveway plots as a road.) The second location did not plot until I corrected it. Now it's okay, but many other things in the area are wrong, things I've also pointed out. The official use only parking lot for the sherrif's office and the courthouse is shown as a through street. Restaurants, shops, and B&B are wrong. Still the place is only 2 blocks by 4. Maybe Google figures that's close enough.
"Love is a familiar; Love is a devil: there is no evil angel but Love." --William Shakespeare ('Love's Labors Lost')
Too funny! http://www.streetviewfunny.com
Cheers,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
Where the guide is inaccurate, it is at least definitively inaccurate, and in cases of major discrepancy it is always reality that has it wrong.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
In Texas, we just drive off the side wherever we want to get to the feeder road. Making these ruts is how we let the highway department know (as a courtesy) where they need to build new exit ramps.
You shall see a cow on the roof of a cotton house.
Google stopped using third-party providers in at the least the US and Canada:
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2009/10/your-world-your-map.html
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/04/keeping-canadas-map-current.html
I've reported a half-dozen mistakes using the "Report a Bug" link, and they've all been responded to within a few days. Most of these have been of the form "Can't turn left", but one was of the "You think that street takes 10 minutes to drive along. It really takes 30, find better directions".
It certainly used to be true that updates took a while. In 2004 I reported a street missing and it took 2 years to see an update, and I really have no idea if the fix was related to my email or not. The new system has a check-box to notify when the report is received, and what the verdict is when it's processed.
If you've had a bad experience before the change, it's worth trying again.
(obDisclosure: I work for Google, but not on the maps teams)
Heh, you're right!
Perhaps that's why I think this way after living in Houston's traffic for 12 years.
I take "alternate off ramps" instead of waiting for 45 min. in bumper to bumper traffic on the freeway to get to the next exit whilst the feeder is traveling ~65kph (40mph).
(Oh, and the proper question was: "What color Jeep ya got". Answer: 34052 WWII USMC Lusterless Forrest Green)
I've gotten them to fix several and fix other information such as business locations and addresses wildly misplaced, wrong phone numbers and such. They need to swat that map company on the nose then feed the fixes everyone else submits back to them for a small consideration.
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
For awhile, the company I worked for had an office in an office park but the road on which the building was located was not in any map database. So every map system would direct people to the wrong place. Limo drivers would often call to get directions. Secretaries had to tell people to disregard the directions from online map systems like Mapquest or Google Maps. I checked and saw that the Google maps for our office were (at least at the time) copyright Navteq. So I went to the Navteq website, found the "report a problem" page, took a screen shot of the bad map with the missing road, and went into a paint program and drew the missing road and added the proper location of our building's address and submitted the report. Then several months later (maybe as many as six) I received an email reply from Navteq the their people had verified my submission (they didn't say if it was via drive-by or satellite photo inspection) and that their map info was updated -- but that it might take awhile to appear in the systems that utilize their data. I think it took another 3-6 months to percolate into Google. I just checked the address in Google maps, and the "missing road" is still there, but the street address location, while close, is no longer correct (and it's a "different" incorrect place than before). The map data copyright is no longer Navteq -- and not Teleatlas either. It's Google. There is a handy "report a problem" link right there by the map data copyright that wasn't there in the Navteq days.
I cannot clarify the data error of the issue, but I can for certain tell you the map-overlay you see is laid on a legacy elevation map that may complicate the directions. For exhample the Norfolk Southern Whitaker Intermodal Facility is pasted onto the pre-existing terrain, north of Austell, GA.
Don't you think...? Or don't you?