# Google Maps has jumped the shark. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 7, 2011, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-has-jumped-the-shark/605325 "2011-12-07T00:31:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-has-jumped-the-shark/605325/61 "2011-12-08T01:00:26Z")
I will say that, for businesses that are on a major road, Google is very often confused about where it is. Whatever algorithm or database it uses to correlate a street address with a physical location seems to not work very well with roads that go through more than one town or have both a regular name and a numerical one. I’ve even seen it put the pin for an address that specifies town A miles away in town B. I’ve only seen this happening in major roads though. ---
**Author:** ![Hero\_From\_Sector\_7G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@Hero\_From\_Sector\_7G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hero_From_Sector_7G)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-has-jumped-the-shark/605325/62 "2011-12-08T01:26:01Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Spoiled enough to expect that it will work the same way it did last week? Do they have to change it every fucking week to include new capabilities, when doing so breaks last week’s functionality? All I’m asking is that they don’t break old functionality when they introduce new. Can’t we just all get along? ☹ The only way to ensure it never breaks is to never change it. Good crap dude, it’ll be fixed soon enough. Submit an error report and do something productive with your life for a change. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-has-jumped-the-shark/605325/63 "2011-12-08T03:06:10Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > The addresses in some areas are stored. In my area, valid addresses will show up in the middle of the plat lines that you mentioned. Invalid addresses will be points on the street. (Sometimes it’s finicky, though. If it has alternate names for a road, it might only give you the actual property if you use a particular form. “12345 Any Road” might get you the road while “12345 County Road 85” gets you the property itself.) I figure it is pretty good if it has a plat map, but I was on one road where it was off by half a mile. I didn’t start seeing plat maps until a year ago. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-has-jumped-the-shark/605325/64 "2011-12-08T04:50:16Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > I disagree completely. If I was searching around in London it’s much more likely I want to see Indian restaurants around the block than I want to search a completely different city on another continent. If I wanted a different city, I’d have zoomed out and done the search. Personally, I hate it when I’m in a city-focused view and my search term springs the map 500 miles away. Why would I want to know that? Now I’ve got to waste time getting back to the original city and try another term. That’s the thing though - I’m not searching around London. It would default to the UK then just start searching within its default map, which is molto annoying. However my complaint is out of date: I just checked and this behaviour doesn’t seem to be happening any more - I zoomed in on London then typed just “Delhi” and it went to the capital of India. So I withdraw it and pat Google Maps on the back instead. ---
**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:** [December 8, 2011, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-has-jumped-the-shark/605325/65 "2011-12-08T04:59:59Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > I think the key word here is **new**. I apologize - when I say “new” I mean “new for me”, as in a different house. As I posted, the newest house we looked at was 9 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-has-jumped-the-shark/605325/66 "2011-12-08T14:24:56Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > He is bitching because he can’t use his free service to find out how far he walked when he walked to the store. I don’t know about merit, but it **truly is a first world problem**. I’ll cop to that. I’m just bitching about a minor inconvenience that managed to piss me off enough to post a rant. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-has-jumped-the-shark/605325/67 "2011-12-08T15:02:59Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > I apologize - when I say “new” I mean “new for me”, as in a different house. As I posted, the newest house we looked at was 9 years old. That would be odd then. What county were you searching in? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-has-jumped-the-shark/605325/68 "2011-12-08T20:01:22Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > That hasn’t been true for a while now. The military turned off the obfuscation for us civilians. They can turn it back on again. Clearly, the OP has offended them, somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-has-jumped-the-shark/605325/69 "2011-12-08T22:44:48Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > I’ll cop to that. I’m just bitching about a minor inconvenience that managed to piss me off enough to post a rant. Clearly you don’t understand how BBQ works, you must never admit that you are just venting and you aren’t actually thinking it is the end of the world. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-has-jumped-the-shark/605325/70 "2011-12-08T22:45:32Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > They can turn it back on again. Clearly, the OP has offended them, somehow. I must have offended Google. My house still shows up at the arrow when I put in the coords. Besides, I wasn’t using the GPS to actually get a fix, I was just using the already programmed waypoint that’s been stored for several years. Or maybe Lenny, the owner of the store I was talking about pissed them off, so now they want to make it hard to find his store. > [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Clearly you don’t understand how BBQ works, you must never admit that you are just venting and you aren’t actually thinking it is the end of the world. Oops. My bad! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-has-jumped-the-shark/605325/71 "2011-12-08T23:02:26Z")
Still, I could casually buy that the U.S. military doesn’t like you. ---
**Author:** ![YoDoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e68b1a/32.png) [@YoDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoDoc)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2011, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-has-jumped-the-shark/605325/72 "2011-12-09T00:45:03Z")
I’m a member of that _ahem_ esteemed organization. If it makes it easier, I could just dislike you, which would be somewhat similar, I suppose… lol [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-has-jumped-the-shark/605325.md?page=3)