In the last six months, Google Maps has four times placed me in the wrong spot in this little Ohio town. Also, their maps are not updated on a timely basis even after numerous requests from MAPPING companies, including the one where I work.
The last straw is this: Run a Google Maps search on Canton, OH. It puts you in Massillon and Canton is now labeled Colesville. Even after the Canton Rep pointed it out to Google yesterday, the mistake still stands. It will take a few days given “a number of programs must be reviewed and fixed.”
There is no excuse for such shoddy mapping when MapQuest and Yahoo do exceptional work in this area the first time around. I read that TeleAtlas no longer provides U.S. maps to Google, so it looks like this is solely on Google.
Then again, this is the company that brought you Google Books Fingers. Please, guys, don’t turn into the new Microsoft. Not when I just got a Wave account.
[...] of late from the geo crowd that point to errors in Google Maps (see Peter Batty, James Fee and Maitri Erwin). The mistakes that these observant industry watchdogs point out are a missing road, a lake where [...]
so that’s where massillon is! i always thought it was further north and west, like near canal fulton. i guess i just never cared to look that closely at a map, since i already knew how to get to where i was going. my grandparents live in massillon, near the high school on fulton.
also, “maitri erwin” is a nerd name. nerd.
Ed! It’s been years! But I still think of you each time I’m on the website of that one credit card company. And, of course, Julie and I reminisce about the blarf forums.
Your grandparents live in Massillon? Stop in and say hi on your way there. Seriously, I’m like 15-20 minutes away. Also, drop me a line at the email addy, if you’re so inclined, and let me know how/what/where you’re doing. Is there a Cinco yet?
Hey do you have any impressions of Wave you feel like sharing?
First impressions:
1) Not enough people on it yet to judge its usefulness (hello Google, how do you hype a collaborative tool if you only give accounts to a select few?)
2) Can’t get people at work to be psyched about it.
3) Has group/blog writing/brainstorming potential like a private wiki, but also may be great for sharing multimedia with a group of friends without 500 emails piling up. So you could put images in a wave for the next Saints/Poochie post and have it all waiting there for you to shape as you see fit. The tie-in to your blog may work better given you have a Blogger account.
4) Thing that annoys me the most is that you’re not automatically on Wave when you login to your GMail account. It’s like you have to GO there and have that tab/page active. They may make that a widget or Google Labs thing in the future.
5) I’m more excited about FourSquare than Wave at this point. At least it keeps track of my going-out prowess and crowns me mayor of favorite joints. Wish I’d had Foursquare when I lived in NOLA. I’d be God Emperor of Fahy’s.