# GoogleMaps roundabout mystery **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 12, 2022, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googlemaps-roundabout-mystery/971461 "2022-09-12T19:37:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2022, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googlemaps-roundabout-mystery/971461/1 "2022-09-12T19:37:55Z")
I saw something a little odd in this GoogleMap: https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=43.1537717,-89.306445&z=17&output=embed&dg=ntvb&q=43%C2%B009%2713.6%22N%2B89%C2%B018%2715.3%22W Note the marker labeled “Roundabout” in the middle of the roundabout on the right side of the map. Does anyone recognize the icon in that marker? It looks vaguely familiar but I’m not sure I’ve seen it before. The location is in Madison WI. If you click on the marker, it says it’s owned by the “Department of Transportation”. When I first discovered this marker, I assumed it was added by someone at WisDOT. That is, until I discovered another, identical marker in a different location (extreme right side of the map): https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=43.8811685,-78.7240395&z=17&output=embed&dg=ntvb&q=43%C2%B052%2752.2%22N%2B78%C2%B043%2718.7%22W That marker is in Clarington, Ontario. Ontario doesn’t have a _Department_ of Transportation; it has a _Ministry_ of Transportation. So obviously these two markers are not in any way official. Also obviously put up by an American. Someone’s putting them on the map for reasons unknown. It doesn’t seem like a joke; perhaps an easter egg, although I expect easter eggs to be slightly more clever than that. So anyone have any ideas about these markers? Also, anyone seen others like them? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2022, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googlemaps-roundabout-mystery/971461/2 "2022-09-12T19:52:11Z")
The following is the Google developer’s reference, including depicting and naming the different place icons. > **[Place Icons  |  Places API  |  Google Developers](https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/places/web-service/icons)** The icon in question is defined as “Civic Building”. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2022, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googlemaps-roundabout-mystery/971461/3 "2022-09-12T19:52:11Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Also, anyone seen others like them? That’s Google’s standard “Government” icon. https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=38.8955663,-77.0271497&z=17&output=embed&dg=ntvb Putting in the middle of some roundabouts has to be a joke. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2022, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googlemaps-roundabout-mystery/971461/4 "2022-09-12T19:54:42Z")
I hope the government built that roundabout on a public street. We’re not yet sufficiently advanced as an end-stage anarcho-capalist society that private entities can stick roundabouts in public streets. The icon apparently means nothing more than “a feature on the map which was built by a government but doesn’t fit into one of the more specific icons in the category.” ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2022, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googlemaps-roundabout-mystery/971461/5 "2022-09-12T19:56:42Z")
That roundabout has a 5 star review !! ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2022, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googlemaps-roundabout-mystery/971461/6 "2022-09-12T20:03:35Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Putting in the middle of some roundabouts has to be a joke. Not a terribly funny joke. I’m looking for more markers that label other roundabouts or perhaps other things that do not normally get markers. > [@gnoitall](#): > > I hope the government built that roundabout on a public street. I’m sure they did. It’s just the GoogleMaps markers that were put up by a non-governmental agency. > [@gnoitall](#): > > We’re not yet sufficiently advanced as an end-stage anarcho-capalist society that private entities can stick roundabouts in public streets. Actually, private entities do sometimes build roundabouts on public roads. Or at least they pay for them. But not without permission/insistence of the appropriate governmental agency. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2022, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googlemaps-roundabout-mystery/971461/7 "2022-09-12T20:09:36Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > I’m looking for more markers that label other roundabouts Here’s a landmark: https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.2945557,-77.132873&z=16&output=embed&dg=ntvb ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2022, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googlemaps-roundabout-mystery/971461/8 "2022-09-12T20:40:58Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > That’s Google’s standard “Government” icon. > > Putting in the middle of some roundabouts has to be a joke. You see that marker in other roundabouts [like here.](https://www.google.com/maps/@42.9996127,-89.2012564,16.25z?hl=en-US) On the two in that link, they are labeled “Roundabout | Department of Transportation.” I don’t think it’s a joke; it’s just roundabout → Dept of Transportation → standard government icon. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2022, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googlemaps-roundabout-mystery/971461/9 "2022-09-12T20:57:12Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > I don’t think it’s a joke; it’s just roundabout → Dept of Transportation → standard government icon. Or somebody with a Google account manually added Dept of Transportation and it got accepted that way for whatever reason. > **[How Google sources and uses information in local listings - Local Listings Help](https://support.google.com/local-listings/answer/9851099?authuser=0&hl=en&visit_id=637986130537096280-204214358&p=how_google_sources&rd=1)** > > To provide users with the most complete and up-to-date information about places, Google displays local listings (including business listings) on Google Search and Google Maps, as well as thi ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2022, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googlemaps-roundabout-mystery/971461/10 "2022-09-12T21:03:59Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Or somebody with a Google account manually added Dept of Transportation and it got accepted that way for whatever reason. I suspect that’s the case. The Ontario Ministry of Transportation is not going to label a roundabout with _Dept_ of Transportation. Anyway, there’s around 10,000 roundabouts in the US and another 1000+ in Canada. Are they going to do them all? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2022, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googlemaps-roundabout-mystery/971461/11 "2022-09-12T21:28:20Z")
The symbol looks like a fairground carousel. Which, funnily enough, can be called a roundabout in the U.K. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2022, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/googlemaps-roundabout-mystery/971461/12 "2022-09-13T14:55:00Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > The symbol looks like a fairground carousel Fitting symbol for a government building in the US.