# Copyright map trap identified in Dallas **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [September 7, 2002, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyright-map-trap-identified-in-dallas/127396 "2002-09-07T05:42:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyright-map-trap-identified-in-dallas/127396/1 "2002-09-07T05:42:32Z")
Cecil once wrote about “[copyright traps](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_165.html),” nonexistent streets and such that mapmakers include so they can tell when somebody has copied their map without permission. Lo and behold, they just identified one right here in Dallas. According to [this story](http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/090702dntraisland.1d0d2.html) in the 9/7/02 Dallas Morning News, a company called Navigation Technologies has placed something called “Bonnie Bell Island” in the middle of White Rock Lake, a small, shallow lake in the eastern part of town. Trust me, there is nothing resembling an island anywhere in the lake. Apparently, since these guys are the leading electronic mapmakers in the country, the fake island is in all kinds of electronic maps, including all on-board car navigation systems. You can see the copyright trap for yourself by going to [Mapquest](http://www.mapquest.com) and entering the street name “Emerald Isle Dr.” for Dallas, TX. Zoom out the map a click or two and just to the northwest of the center will be White Rock Lake and Bonnie Bell Island. I think the DMN requires free registration, and the strory is only going to stay online for a couple weeks before they ship it over to the paid archives, so I’ll quote a couple excerpts from the story: > [@](#): > > “Bonnie Bell Island, you are absolutely right, does not exist,” [Navigation Technologies] spokesman Bob Richter said, after being alerted to its virtual existence. > > He says it soon will be removed from the company’s database – and its clients’ Web sites. However, the legend will live on longer in automobile navigation systems that use a CD or DVD to provide maps. > > Mr. Richter says the island was added to maps in 1994, when the company was building its Dallas database. However, the company would not explain the island’s origin. > > “We do not discuss the specific development of our maps,” says Kelly Smith, a company vice president. > [@](#): > > Richard Francaviglia, director of the Center for Greater Southwestern Studies and the History of Cartography at the University of Texas at Arlington, says he would be surprised if a contemporary mapmaker would create an entire island. “It seems so conspicuous. It’s an urban area. It’s an odd thing to do,” he says. But he could think of one possible explanation: “A bold mapmaker who was trying to put a spectacular fingerprint on a map.” > > If that’s the case, Bonnie Bell joins a rich cartographic history associated with fictional islands, says Will Tefft, president of the International Map Trade Association of the Americas. “In the early days of Renaissance mapmaking, particularly when they were trying to map the North Atlantic, imaginary islands were a regular feature,” he says. Okay, I just had to share. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![AmbushBug](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ambushbug/32/4600_2.png) [@AmbushBug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AmbushBug)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyright-map-trap-identified-in-dallas/127396/2 "2002-09-07T06:59:13Z")
Cool! I would _guess_ that if they were making a driveable map that they’d want their copyright trap to be something nobody could try and drive to 🙂 AmbushBug ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2002, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyright-map-trap-identified-in-dallas/127396/3 "2002-09-07T12:43:49Z")
There IS an island, Minty–it’s where they keep the black helicopters… Am I the only one who sees “Bonnie Bell” and automatically thinks “Bonne Bell Cosmetics”? ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyright-map-trap-identified-in-dallas/127396/4 "2002-09-20T18:01:48Z")
I used to cycle around this lake. It was around 26 miles from my place, to the lake, around and back. Nice little workout. There is definitely NO island. I’ve even used Mapquest to look up maps of the area and I never noticed an island depicted there. Of course I could have just glazed over it instead of looking at the lake because I KNOW there isn’t anything there and I would expect the map to reflect reality. If the map reflects the situation of an island in that lake then it is clearly SEP(Somebody Else’s Problem) just like that horde of pink elephants charging this wa ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyright-map-trap-identified-in-dallas/127396/5 "2002-09-20T20:41:16Z")
As a man in the map-making business, my advice is: always get your maps from State Government or Federal sources. You can get Federal maps online (use your Google, I’m too lazy), and your State Representative or Senator may be able to get you maps _free_. If not, the costs are usually nominal, especially compared with private sector. Local gov. maps are usually made by the private sector, & they are garbage. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyright-map-trap-identified-in-dallas/127396/6 "2002-09-22T03:34:51Z")
“Bonnie Bell” sounds like something Chuck Yeager would have painted on the side of his X-1 rocket plane. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyright-map-trap-identified-in-dallas/127396/7 "2002-09-29T14:28:57Z")
Although it is a trivial and silly thing, doesn’t putting in a copyright trap open a mapmaker up to civil liability (at the least, with respect to obtaining a refund)? I mean, the $$$ electronic maps I have have all sort of disclaimers for unintentional errors and omissions, but I haven’t seen anything about _intentional_ errors and omissions. Not that I would ever advocate this, and I think it would be somewhat frivilous to demand a refund over it, but from a legal technical standpoint, isn’t it fraud, if they don’t disclaim it and acknowledge it? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyright-map-trap-identified-in-dallas/127396/8 "2002-09-29T16:07:55Z")
IANAL and I’m a foreigner, but wouldn’t you have to prove damage in order to recover? ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyright-map-trap-identified-in-dallas/127396/9 "2002-09-29T16:40:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hawthorne \* > \*\*IANAL and I’m a foreigner, but wouldn’t you have to prove damage in order to recover? \*\* Well, could you use it to get a refund? Some electronic maps run several hundred dollars (the “whole US” 2-CD set for my GPS runs $320, IIRC). Do you need to prove damages to obtain a refund on a deliberately defective product? I’m not being argumentative, I’m honestly asking. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/copyright-map-trap-identified-in-dallas/127396/10 "2002-09-29T20:05:43Z")
I’m not sure that a map with copyright traps would necessarily be “defective”, though. A defective product is one which can’t be used for one of its intended uses, or in the manner intended. For a road map, the intended use is to enable a person to navigate roads to get from point A to point B, and I see no conceivable way that the presence of a nonexistant uninhabited island in the midst of a rinky-dink lake would impede that use. I can conceive of other potential copyright traps which might cause problems, though. An omitted real street, or a mislabled one, would obviously be a problem, if you’re trying to find a point on that street. And even an added nonexistant street could potentially cause difficulties, if you’re trying to count “it’s the third intersection past Willow Street”, or some such. But the island one seems perfectly harmless.