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Understanding Google My Business & Local Search

Google Maps upgrade to TeleAtlas: “Data may not be optimal”

Last week, Google announced that they were switching over Google Maps data from NavTeq to TeleAtlas. At the time they noted that “there may also be some cases where the data may not be optimal”.

With Google’s rapid switch over to TeleAtlas and Google’s high visibility these reports of missing streets are likely to increase over the next several weeks as these problems with TeleAtlas’ data are uncovered. As Miriam Ellis points out on her blog, this missing Map’s data can cause incredible marketing problems to the small business that experiences it.

There are reports starting to flow into Google Groups of this being the case. What should you do if this happens to you or one of your clients?

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TOPIC: my street disappeared
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== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Sat, Sep 20 2008 4:02 pm
From: jampye

My street, Olson Drive, 92833, completely disappeared from the maps.
It was there last week. What happened to my street?

== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Sat, Sep 20 2008 7:04 pm
From: Tyler

Mine did too. Ashburn Lane, 27703. I followed their suggestions to add it to their map provider, but they said it can take up to 6months:

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TOPIC: Change to Tele Atlas a HUGE step backwards
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Sat, Sep 20 2008 9:11 am
From: DR

The entire area of north Lacey WA is incorrect. It shows streets that aren’t there, mis-names streets, and skips streets. Before the switch the area was correctly shown. It also is correctly shown on MapQuest

Really bad move for Google Maps.
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Google is not unique in this regard. All mapping sites (Mapquest, Yahoo, Google etc) rely on either NavTeq or TeleAtlas for their underlying data. I have no direct experience, but I have read that it could take up to 6 months for the new data to filter through from TeleAtlas to Maps. It is incredible, but understandable, to me that in this age of instant information that data latency is so long.

If you experience this problem on any map, you should report it to the map data provider.

Google is using TeleAtlas exclusively and the url for corrections is: http://www.teleatlas.com/ForConsumers/MapFeedback/index.htm

At the Google Maps Help Center – Fix an Error on Google Maps notes that “you can put your own road or neighborhood on the map using My Maps quite easily as a temporary fix…Once you’re done, all public maps will be searchable in Google Maps almost immediately.”

Mapquest, MSN & Yahoo all use NavTeq and you can report via the NAVTEQ consumer error reporting link:
http://mapreporter.navteq.com/dur-web-external/secured/submitDur.do?userType=CONSUMER

At Mapquest you can also report the error here on their Report a map or driving directions problem page.