# I fought the Google and ... I WON **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 21, 2015, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fought-the-google-and-i-won/728410 "2015-08-21T04:09:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2015, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fought-the-google-and-i-won/728410/41 "2015-08-24T10:51:18Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I’m trying to get MapQuest to remove a non-existent road from my neighborhood. I have no idea why it showed up - there never was a road in that spot. Google Maps doesn’t show it and whatever software Garmin used for our GPS doesn’t show it. > > Makes me wonder if someone, somewhere, was screwing around and started an office pool: “How long till someone calls us on this??” > > 😃 It could be a copyright or a paper street. There were two paper streets leading out of the cup de sac where I used to live that used to show up on google map; I think they disappeared with satellite view. Hmm, one is still there in MapQuest, even in Satellite view. When “Show labels” is deselected, you can see clearly there is no street. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2015, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fought-the-google-and-i-won/728410/42 "2015-08-24T14:01:18Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > It only takes one typo for there to be dueling official sources of information about what a street is called. Sometimes the local government’s property map, the sign on the street, and what the post office calls the street differ. And then there are data entry errors at the map data company. I know, right? My official mailing address is on Chelan _Avenue_, except the street name is actually Chelan _Street_. Go figure. As far as Osborn(e) Road on Google Maps, there are perhaps \<10 living people who give a fuck. I’m one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2015, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fought-the-google-and-i-won/728410/43 "2015-08-24T15:12:44Z")
I sent them correction once too, many years ago. They had the street name for a section of my old street the same name as the street behind it. My old house was being pinpointed as a block away from its actual location. Took a couple of years but they did correct it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2015, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fought-the-google-and-i-won/728410/44 "2015-08-24T20:34:32Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I spell my first name, R-I-K, and people will reply to my e-mails, with my name spelled out right there in front of them, and still address me as “R-I-C”. Oh my god it totally irritates me when people do this. If someone misspells my name without seeing it written out, it’s a little irritating but entirely forgivable. But when I send an e-mail, sign off with my name, and they respond with my name spelled incorrectly, it feels borderline disrespectful. You can’t be bothered to spell my name correctly when you have it right in front of you??? Isn’t that a basic sign of respect? ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fought-the-google-and-i-won/728410/45 "2015-08-25T00:02:13Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > Oh my god it totally irritates me when people do this. If someone misspells my name without seeing it written out, it’s a little irritating but entirely forgivable. But when I send an e-mail, sign off with my name, and they respond with my name spelled incorrectly, it feels borderline disrespectful. You can’t be bothered to spell my name correctly when you have it right in front of you??? Isn’t that a basic sign of respect? Now you can blame it on autocorrect. ---
**Author:** ![Vaevictis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f04885/32.png) [@Vaevictis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vaevictis)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fought-the-google-and-i-won/728410/46 "2015-08-25T00:51:20Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I know, right? My official mailing address is on Chelan _Avenue_, except the street name is actually Chelan _Street_. Go figure. > > As far as Osborn(e) Road on Google Maps, there are perhaps \<10 living people who give a fuck. I’m one of them. Look we can do this step by step, I have some time, but not forever. Were you happy they made an error which affected you and \<10 living people when Google produced the earlier, not corrected by you, version of their map? ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fought-the-google-and-i-won/728410/47 "2015-08-25T01:29:31Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > Oh my god it totally irritates me when people do this. If someone misspells my name without seeing it written out, it’s a little irritating but entirely forgivable. But when I send an e-mail, sign off with my name, and they respond with my name spelled incorrectly, it feels borderline disrespectful. You can’t be bothered to spell my name correctly when you have it right in front of you??? Isn’t that a basic sign of respect? Not that it makes it any better - but as a slight defense - I will sometimes make mistakes like this, (I did it yesterday actually, spelled someone’s name as Michelle instead of Michele) sometimes the brain is on “auto-pilot” when writing the name - muscle memory types it a certain way when you’re already focusing on the body of the email. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fought-the-google-and-i-won/728410/48 "2015-08-25T01:50:38Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I know, right? My official mailing address is on Chelan _Avenue_, except the street name is actually Chelan _Street_. Go figure. > > As far as Osborn(e) Road on Google Maps, there are perhaps \<10 living people who give a fuck. I’m one of them. I’m confused - what makes “Avenue” official", if the street is really a “street”? (And at least one other person gives a fuck about that “e”, now.) ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fought-the-google-and-i-won/728410/49 "2015-08-25T02:30:36Z")
> [@j666](#): > > Now you can blame it on autocorrect. Really? Neither my Mac nor my Windows computer tries to autocorrect “Rik”. They both just give my name the red underline. > [@bengangmo](#): > > Not that it makes it any better - > but as a slight defense - > I will sometimes make mistakes like this, (I did it yesterday actually, spelled someone’s name as Michelle instead of Michele) sometimes the brain is on “auto-pilot” when writing the name - muscle memory types it a certain way when you’re already focusing on the body of the email. Yeah, I figure that people see my name, “Rik”, and all their brains register is “nonstandard spelling”, and they default to “Ric”. > [@j666](#): > > I’m confused - what makes “Avenue” official", if the street is really a “street”? Beats me! The use of “street” and “avenue” in my town is rather haphazard. From what I understand, in most towns that were actually _planned_, “streets” run one direction, while “avenues” are the cross streets (or vice versa). The street I live on is one of the four major streets in my smallish city. The “Main Street” here is “Wenatchee Avenue”. The other three major streets run roughly parallel to Wenatchee Avenue, but they’re all “Streets”. Mission Street, Chelan Street, and Miller Street. All us locals use “street” when referring to them … except Chelan. Everybody calls it “Chelan Avenue”. So that’s what’s in my official mailing address, which the USPS recognizes. Even the junk mail I get is addressed to Chelan Avenue. My prior residence was three blocks south and one block west of my current residence, on yet another parallel street: Pennsylvania Avenue. Yet all of the other parallel streets are “streets”, not “avenues”. Adams Street, Buchanan Street, Cleveland Street, Delaware Street, Emerson St, Franklin St, Garfield St. I guess that’s the nature of an agricultural town that expanded naturally as it grew. Yeah you’ll notice that I listed those streets in alphabetical order … because that’s how they are. If you walk from East to West up First Street, you’ll see the original names of these streets engraved in the ancient cement of the sidewalks: A Street, B Street, C Street, etc. So the numbered streets ran East-West, and the alphabetical streets ran North-South. But they’re all named “Street”. Except when they’re not. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fought-the-google-and-i-won/728410/50 "2015-08-25T02:47:08Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > Which of course begs the question - > who did Google buy the data from and why is it wrong? I think they get a lot of the basic information from public databases, for free. Most cities today probably have some kind of digital of their cities streets and mapping coordinates, but you can imagine how such information, which at some point was input from paper maps by hand, is susceptible to error, by varying degrees, because they are all different local government opertations. I also know that Google combines that with a lot of other information, and that they use the Streetview images to correct for errors sometimes. Additionally, I gather that now, when a building goes up, the builder submits (or is invited to submit, or is required to submit) a lot of detailed information about the structure. At least for public buildings. For example, Google Maps not only shows the various rooms on my local public library, it also shows you exactly [where the copy machine and magazines are](https://www.google.com/maps/place/1874+Hillhurst+Ave,+Los+Angeles,+CA+90027/@34.1051174,-118.2871329,20.28z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x80c2c0b1daa36f49:0x2ecfa47bcee306f9?hl=en). ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fought-the-google-and-i-won/728410/51 "2015-08-25T02:55:12Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Yeah, I figure that people see my name, “Rik”, and all their brains register is “nonstandard spelling”, and they default to “Ric”. My name also uses a non-standard spelling, and people consistently get it wrong when replying to email I’ve given up worrying about it ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fought-the-google-and-i-won/728410/52 "2015-08-25T03:15:10Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > My name also uses a non-standard spelling, and people consistently get it wrong when replying to email > > I’ve given up worrying about it It’s the reason that my legal signature is “R. Osborne”. It works when endorsing checks, regardless of how they spell my first name, whether Richard, Rick, Ric, or Rik. Though that wouldn’t have worked way back when I had a paper route, and one of my customers kept thinking that my name was “Tom”. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fought-the-google-and-i-won/728410/53 "2015-08-25T13:37:56Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > I was using Google to navigate to a casino in Northern California that is located on Rancheria Road. It’s pronounced Ran-che-REE-a. But Google insisted that it was Ran-CHAIR-ee-a. I laughed every time she said it. I sometimes drive down Dyckman St. The name is pronounced “DIKE-man,” as you might expect. Google maps pronounces it “DICK-man.” Gives me a chuckle every time. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fought-the-google-and-i-won/728410/54 "2015-08-25T13:49:29Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > It’s the reason that my legal signature is “R. Osborne”. It works when endorsing checks, regardless of how they spell my first name, whether Richard, Rick, Ric, or Rik. Rik Mayall often played characters named after himself, but always spelled differently. Rick, Richard, Richie\*, but his real spelling was always like yours, Rik. \*_…and Alan._ ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fought-the-google-and-i-won/728410/55 "2015-08-25T15:28:01Z")
I was sent back from grade one to kindergarten because the teacher didn’t like the spelling of my name. Where were you when I needed you, Mister Rik? (And good for you for getting the family road spelling correction made.) ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fought-the-google-and-i-won/728410/56 "2015-08-25T17:08:47Z")
> [@Scribble](#): > > I sometimes drive down Dyckman St. The name is pronounced “DIKE-man,” as you might expect. Google maps pronounces it “DICK-man.” Gives me a chuckle every time. IIRC the Google Maps on my phone pronounced Couch Street in Portland like it’s correctly supposed to be (less like the furniture and more like the anatomy). I’d like to take it down Gough Street in SF, I’m guessing they accounted for that. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fought-the-google-and-i-won/728410/57 "2015-08-27T17:01:03Z")
They basically said “too bad, so sad” when I reported a problem a couple years back. I was driving a carload of Girl Scouts, and dropping them at their houses, and plugged in one girl’s address. She remembered her house being near a specific part of the county. I plugged the address in, and it kept trying to route me to a completely different part. Imagine you try to go to 1234 Oak Tree Lane. Google routes you to Oak Tree Court - and there _is_ no 1234 (the addresses stop at 1100 or whatever). It turned out, the address was really 1234 OakTree Lane (that missing space is crucial). I reported this - and Google basically just shrugged. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-fought-the-google-and-i-won/728410.md?page=2)