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As Google Maps Renames Neighborhoods, Residents Fume (nytimes.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: For decades, the district south of downtown and alongside San Francisco Bay here was known as either Rincon Hill, South Beach or South of Market. This spring, it was suddenly rebranded on Google Maps to a name few had heard: the East Cut. The peculiar moniker immediately spread digitally, from hotel sites to dating apps to Uber, which all use Google's map data. The name soon spilled over into the physical world, too. Real-estate listings beckoned prospective tenants to the East Cut. And news organizations referred to the vicinity by that term.
"It's degrading to the reputation of our area," said Tad Bogdan, who has lived in the neighborhood for 14 years. In a survey of 271 neighbors that he organized recently, he said, 90 percent disliked the name. The swift rebranding of the roughly 170-year-old district is just one example of how Google Maps has now become the primary arbiter of place names. With decisions made by a few Google cartographers, the identity of a city, town or neighborhood can be reshaped, illustrating the outsize influence that Silicon Valley increasingly has in the real world.
"It's degrading to the reputation of our area," said Tad Bogdan, who has lived in the neighborhood for 14 years. In a survey of 271 neighbors that he organized recently, he said, 90 percent disliked the name. The swift rebranding of the roughly 170-year-old district is just one example of how Google Maps has now become the primary arbiter of place names. With decisions made by a few Google cartographers, the identity of a city, town or neighborhood can be reshaped, illustrating the outsize influence that Silicon Valley increasingly has in the real world.
If they had done any research they would have found out that the community benefit district for that area, a local government agency, had renamed the area to the East Cut over a year ago.
They spend tax money on advertising it and probably went to google to get the name to reflect what the city wanted.
This was not some sudden change caused by google, nor an example of how google is a final arbitrator of names.
it is just another daily example of how the new york times is worth for journalism and its only value is in wiping down the street of San Francisco.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/ba...
It's better here in Texas (like everything) ...
Except in Education (ranked 40th) and Healthcare (ranked 38th) in the nation. Also, it's really frelling hot in Texas. Still, not a bad place to fly over on your way to somewhere better. :-)
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
East Cut is the huge renaming project for the area. There's almost no possible way locals wouldn't know what the fuck is up unless they just avoid the freaking signs everywhere. Google didn't invent this shit, the City and local Business Owners did. It even has a website: https://theeastcut.org/