Comments on: Google Maps: A (mis)Guided Tour of Olean http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/12/17/google-maps-a-misguided-tour-of-olean/ Developing Knowledge about Local Search Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:37:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Google Maps: Geo Data Quality & Time to Fix | Understanding Google Maps & Local Search http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/12/17/google-maps-a-misguided-tour-of-olean/comment-page-1/#comment-546962 Google Maps: Geo Data Quality & Time to Fix | Understanding Google Maps & Local Search Tue, 29 Mar 2011 23:53:17 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=5561#comment-546962 [...] a very high vested interest in being found and are thus motivated to report the problem. In my anectdotal test of Google’s mapping errors in my home town, most have been [...] [...] a very high vested interest in being found and are thus motivated to report the problem. In my anectdotal test of Google’s mapping errors in my home town, most have been [...]

]]> By: Mike Blumenthal http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/12/17/google-maps-a-misguided-tour-of-olean/comment-page-1/#comment-450530 Mike Blumenthal Sat, 19 Dec 2009 14:27:05 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=5561#comment-450530 @rich sorry to get hopes up. Report a problem on Maps is a featue only available in the US at the moment where google creates their own geospatial data. You will see in Ireland only when they do the same. Their contract with teleatlas has 3 or so years left on it so maybe some time before then @rich

sorry to get hopes up. Report a problem on Maps is a featue only available in the US at the moment where google creates their own geospatial data.

You will see in Ireland only when they do the same. Their contract with teleatlas has 3 or so years left on it so maybe some time before then

]]> By: Rich Williamson http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/12/17/google-maps-a-misguided-tour-of-olean/comment-page-1/#comment-450491 Rich Williamson Sat, 19 Dec 2009 09:59:31 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=5561#comment-450491 We don't seem to have the "Report a problem" link in Ireland. When I read about it I was pretty excited that I could get a few problems fixed, only to be disappointed that I couldn't find the link. Having read this it now seems Google are slow at best to address the reported errors and ignoring the reports at worst. I guess I'll just have to stick to being ignored in the forum for now :-) We don’t seem to have the “Report a problem” link in Ireland. When I read about it I was pretty excited that I could get a few problems fixed, only to be disappointed that I couldn’t find the link. Having read this it now seems Google are slow at best to address the reported errors and ignoring the reports at worst. I guess I’ll just have to stick to being ignored in the forum for now :-)

]]> By: Elsa http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/12/17/google-maps-a-misguided-tour-of-olean/comment-page-1/#comment-450318 Elsa Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:16:31 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=5561#comment-450318 The address of heavensscentflowers.com is not entered right. It is listed as heavenscent with one s instead of the double s. As a result people are ending up on the wrong website. The address of heavensscentflowers.com is not entered right. It is listed as heavenscent with one s instead of the double s. As a result people are ending up on the wrong website.

]]> By: Maps for Recovery & Yelp for Discovery – a great combo | Understanding Google Maps & Local Search http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/12/17/google-maps-a-misguided-tour-of-olean/comment-page-1/#comment-450295 Maps for Recovery & Yelp for Discovery – a great combo | Understanding Google Maps & Local Search Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:07:23 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=5561#comment-450295 [...] on Tracking Local search Traffic with AnalyticsSearchCap: The Day In Search, December 17, 2009 on Google Maps: A (mis)Guided Tour of OleanPureSheer (59 comments) on Federal Bust of Dependable Locksmith in Florida Strikes at Heart of [...] [...] on Tracking Local search Traffic with AnalyticsSearchCap: The Day In Search, December 17, 2009 on Google Maps: A (mis)Guided Tour of OleanPureSheer (59 comments) on Federal Bust of Dependable Locksmith in Florida Strikes at Heart of [...]

]]> By: SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 17, 2009 http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/12/17/google-maps-a-misguided-tour-of-olean/comment-page-1/#comment-450206 SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 17, 2009 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:59:34 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=5561#comment-450206 [...] Google Maps: A (mis)Guided Tour of Olean, Mike Blumenthal [...] [...] Google Maps: A (mis)Guided Tour of Olean, Mike Blumenthal [...]

]]> By: Mike http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/12/17/google-maps-a-misguided-tour-of-olean/comment-page-1/#comment-450195 Mike Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:18:22 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=5561#comment-450195 @Miriam In the end, Maps needs to be measured not in terms of relevance but in terms of ground truth. I am hoping by showing the range of these problems that it will 1)alert Google to the problems so that they can track the source and 2)encourage more people to take a look and see what Google has so that the problem can be fixed for all small burgs, here, in California and wherever else the technology is used. I am by no means an expert on the collection and collation of the geospatial data so take what I say with a huge grain of salt... (see Mike Dobson's <a href="http://blog.telemapics.com/" rel="nofollow">blog</a> for that... In the case of the Streetview data, the car drives along, taking photos, tagging them with GPS. The photos are OCR for street names etc, matched against satelite images and other data sources to create the road geometry. If they think that they are on North Union St when in reality they are on the North Union St Extension then the data will be matched against the wrong road....the road geometry will be in error and the business placed at the wrong location. It appears that with Olean there are multiple interacting errors...again I am not the guy to diagnose them. (But I sure have fun reporting them :) ) @David My watering hole is home with my wife, playing a mean game of scrabble over a beer or glass of wine with some home cooked food.... second choice would be a similar scenario but with friends... As you probably have surmised I make it to the bars rarely if ever. :) @Miriam

In the end, Maps needs to be measured not in terms of relevance but in terms of ground truth.

I am hoping by showing the range of these problems that it will
1)alert Google to the problems so that they can track the source and 2)encourage more people to take a look and see what Google has so that the problem can be fixed for all small burgs, here, in California and wherever else the technology is used.

I am by no means an expert on the collection and collation of the geospatial data so take what I say with a huge grain of salt… (see Mike Dobson’s blog for that…

In the case of the Streetview data, the car drives along, taking photos, tagging them with GPS. The photos are OCR for street names etc, matched against satelite images and other data sources to create the road geometry. If they think that they are on North Union St when in reality they are on the North Union St Extension then the data will be matched against the wrong road….the road geometry will be in error and the business placed at the wrong location. It appears that with Olean there are multiple interacting errors…again I am not the guy to diagnose them. (But I sure have fun reporting them :) )

@David

My watering hole is home with my wife, playing a mean game of scrabble over a beer or glass of wine with some home cooked food…. second choice would be a similar scenario but with friends… As you probably have surmised I make it to the bars rarely if ever. :)

]]> By: David Mihm http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/12/17/google-maps-a-misguided-tour-of-olean/comment-page-1/#comment-450194 David Mihm Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:08:11 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=5561#comment-450194 Mike, what I would like to hear more about is which watering hole in Olean IS your bar? :D Mike, what I would like to hear more about is which watering hole in Olean IS your bar? :D

]]> By: MiriamEllis http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/12/17/google-maps-a-misguided-tour-of-olean/comment-page-1/#comment-450191 MiriamEllis Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:54:14 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=5561#comment-450191 Mike, Very cool that you're a born-and-bred Olean person and know the town like the back of your hand. I hope your flurry of error reporting will lead to a more correct presentation of the place you live in Maps. I'm curious...you mention bad geometry. How so? I'd like to hear more about that. Miriam Mike,
Very cool that you’re a born-and-bred Olean person and know the town like the back of your hand. I hope your flurry of error reporting will lead to a more correct presentation of the place you live in Maps. I’m curious…you mention bad geometry. How so? I’d like to hear more about that.
Miriam

]]> By: Mike http://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/12/17/google-maps-a-misguided-tour-of-olean/comment-page-1/#comment-450189 Mike Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:37:57 +0000 http://blumenthals.com/blog/?p=5561#comment-450189 @Kyle I would bet that in many a rural town, even the farm towns in the Midwest that Google has passed through, you will find similar geocoding errors. Google just hit the main streets in most of rural America and then triangulated that with other data sources. Either the "other" data sources that have the bad information or their OCR on their StreetView Data gave them bad results. Regardless, I think the problem is systemic not just here. The reality though is that it takes someone looking at Maps a lot to catalog and index these many errors....usually you go one place and if its wrong you write it off, if it happens a second time you think it a conspiracy....when it happens the third time, its a revolution and you either stop using Google or you switch products... It is amazing to me given the maginitude of their switching of the underlying data, how few complaints you see in the forums... @Kyle

I would bet that in many a rural town, even the farm towns in the Midwest that Google has passed through, you will find similar geocoding errors. Google just hit the main streets in most of rural America and then triangulated that with other data sources.

Either the “other” data sources that have the bad information or their OCR on their StreetView Data gave them bad results. Regardless, I think the problem is systemic not just here.

The reality though is that it takes someone looking at Maps a lot to catalog and index these many errors….usually you go one place and if its wrong you write it off, if it happens a second time you think it a conspiracy….when it happens the third time, its a revolution and you either stop using Google or you switch products…

It is amazing to me given the maginitude of their switching of the underlying data, how few complaints you see in the forums…

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