# Street not on Mapquest, Google Maps, Yahoo Maps...why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 24, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-not-on-mapquest-google-maps-yahoo-maps-why/345978 "2006-02-24T21:03:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-not-on-mapquest-google-maps-yahoo-maps-why/345978/1 "2006-02-24T21:03:37Z")
In the township where I work there is a private road that doesn’t show up on internet mapping sites. (Well, not the ones I tried, anyway.) Mapquest knows it’s there—it can locate it in space, but there’s no road on the map—anybody have any idea why that might be? It’s a private road, but there’s other private roads that do show up. Nothing pressing. It just strikes me as odd. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-not-on-mapquest-google-maps-yahoo-maps-why/345978/2 "2006-02-24T21:45:40Z")
Don’t bother trying other sites - they are almost invariably NavTeq-based. Whether it’s NavTeq or something else, though, they all have the same original source - government TIGER data. Then it gets enhanced. If it’s not in the TIGER data, odds are \> 95% it’s not in any database you’ll come across. What do you mean by “private road”? Is it government-maintained? Is it a military road exclusively? Finally, how old is the road? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-not-on-mapquest-google-maps-yahoo-maps-why/345978/3 "2006-02-24T22:22:05Z")
Timing can play a big part in this. My in-laws sold off some proprty at the back of there farm that was immediately developed for four houses. The road going back did not show up on MapQuest for several years (although it is there, now). Another possibility might involve the way the property was used. A single home-owner (particularly one with a P.O. Box in town) might not actually get a name for the road and it might be treated as an extended driveway. If MapQuest sticks a star approximately where a house might be, but does not show the actual road, I do not know exactly where the interruption in data occurred. **bup** , private roads are roads that have been developed on private property without going to the township or municipality to deed the ownership to the governmental agency. Typically, these occur in developments that do not want government “interference” regarding right of way, construction regulations, etc. Aside from the fire and police departments insisting that they be given a map of the development, other agencies treat such areas as though they did not exist (or were simply “paths” around someone’s private property–which they effectively are). Such streets are not eligible for snow plowing or maintenance by the community agencies. Particular rules probably vary by state (and, perhaps, county or municipality). ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-not-on-mapquest-google-maps-yahoo-maps-why/345978/4 "2006-02-24T22:25:18Z")
I know that, I just wanted verification of what **js\_africanus** meant. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-not-on-mapquest-google-maps-yahoo-maps-why/345978/5 "2006-02-25T00:13:00Z")
If you go to my County Assessor’s website and look at my old neighborhood, there’s a street there that doesn’t exist. The street was platted when the area was developed, but never built. Nonetheless, the county says it’s there and lists addresses for it (no property owners, though, of course.) ---
**Author:** ![username\_taken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/c0e974/32.png) [@username\_taken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/username_taken)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-not-on-mapquest-google-maps-yahoo-maps-why/345978/6 "2006-02-25T00:20:49Z")
I did a bit of GPS/GIS work and find it incredible that Mapquest and other sites work so well. Just think of the work involved in getting all the data linked for all those roads! If anyone has an answer to the OPs question, I’d love to hear it. PS: My parents road has been listed as both wrong, and connecting to a road it doesn’t for over 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-not-on-mapquest-google-maps-yahoo-maps-why/345978/7 "2006-02-25T15:20:28Z")
> [@bup](#): > > If it’s not in the TIGER data, odds are \> 95% it’s not in any database you’ll come across. May I ask how you know that? Out of curiosity, that is! I’m not yelling, “CITE!!” It makes perfect sense; the first thing I did was to check whether the address was listed w/ the US Postal Service. They had the road, but no addresses showed up and our tax roll has all the property owners with P.O. boxes or addresses elsewhere. I checked the Mapquest FAQ and saw the data were purchased from private firms, and from there it seemed a bit opaque to me. I’ve seen “TIGER,” but don’t know much about it, which gives me a good search term to go looking. 🙂 > [@](#): > > What do you mean by “private road”? Is it government-maintained? Is it a military road exclusively? It’s private in the sense that **tomndebb** used. A private development built the road and the neighborhood association maintains it. > [@](#): > > Finally, how old is the road? I’ll have to check when I’m back at work on Monday. > [@tomndebb](#): > > A single home-owner (particularly one with a P.O. Box in town) might not actually get a name for the road and it might be treated as an extended driveway. If MapQuest sticks a star approximately where a house might be, but does not show the actual road, I do not know exactly where the interruption in data occurred. Heh, I was actually thinking that maybe none of the property owners had mail delivered there; it didn’t occur to me to check other private roads, which are shown, to see if mail _is_ delivered on those. :smack: It is weird that the star showing the property location seems to be fairly accurately placed even though the road isn’t showing up! The road _is_ on the County Road Commission Map, which seems to me a key element here. Wouldn’t gov’t databases get the info from the counties? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-not-on-mapquest-google-maps-yahoo-maps-why/345978/8 "2006-02-25T16:21:49Z")
You might try looking for your county’s GIS location. It is pretty hit-or-miss, but if you drop “_county name_ GIS” into Google™ you might come up with something. Some counties have astounding GIS pages that let you examine everything on the tax rolls with aerial photos and feature overlays. Other counties (\<_grumble_\>Oakland\<_grumble_\>) simply provide order forms from which you can buy paper copies of selected maps (without being able to review them in advance) or provide the maps only to government agencies with username and password access. (I use the GIS maps for NE Ohio to help Deb find patient houses in the middle of the night because MapQuest does not show lot lines and the [maps.google.com](http://maps.google.com)’s aerial photos are generally off by several houses to the South and East. The county GIS systems _when they work_ show the lot lines for street addresses with an aerial photo. Fortunately, our Lake and Geauga maps are excellent. Cuyahoga is adequate (mostly) and Summit (when it doesn’t time out) is pretty good and Deb does not often get sent to Portage or Medina where the maps are either crappy or non-existent. I have done some searching in Michigan to help family, but I don’t know which of the 83 counties have good GIS, since I only have family in about four of them.) (If a search on “GIS” does not turn up anything, try searching for the web page of the county auditor or the county treasurer (who, between them, maintain the tax information). ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-not-on-mapquest-google-maps-yahoo-maps-why/345978/9 "2006-02-25T16:59:14Z")
In Gretna, Louisiana, there is a street called Broad Street that has never existed. It doesn’t show up on [Google Maps](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=gretna,+louisiana&ll=29.919995,-90.055908&spn=0.00437,0.010815) but if you look at the map, it parallels Fifth Street to the NW between Richard Street and Ocean Avenue. Or at least it’s supposed to. Google shows it as a little dead-end off of Richard Street. If you switch to satellite view, you can see 4 shotgun houses and a 2 or 3 commercial buildings that would face the non-existant street. Older maps show it as an existing street and houses and businesses were built on it. But the street has never existed, at least not in the memory of any living person. The houses that face it are only on the 5th St. side and they are accessed through alleys and driveways between the properties on 5th St. There are a few houses still standing and you can only see the back of them from 5th St. There’s no way to see the front of them unless you actually walk down to the house and around the front. There are woods directly in front of the houses. Most of the houses were abandoned and burned or torn down years ago. And there’s maybe 3 businesses left with addresses on Broad. They have driveways to get to 5th St. Even most people in Gretna don’t know this street exists. I’ve never met anyone who lives in those houses. I’ve only seen someone near one of the houses once and it was from a distance. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/street-not-on-mapquest-google-maps-yahoo-maps-why/345978/10 "2006-02-25T20:31:45Z")
> [@js\_africanus](#): > > May I ask how you know that? Out of curiosity, that is! I’m not yelling, “CITE!!” It makes perfect sense; the first thing I did was to check whether the address was listed w/ the US Postal Service. I worked for Rand McNally (incidentally, so did Little Ed once upon a time, I was told) - for 8 years. > [@](#): > > Heh, I was actually thinking that maybe none of the property owners had mail delivered there; it didn’t occur to me to check other private roads, which are shown, to see if mail _is_ delivered on those. :smack: It is weird that the star showing the property location seems to be fairly accurately placed even though the road isn’t showing up! The road _is_ on the County Road Commission Map, which seems to me a key element here. Wouldn’t gov’t databases get the info from the counties? Yeah, usually. BTW, from Mapquest’s legal page: > [@their lawyers](#): > > ## Portions Copyright © 2004 Geographic Data Technology, Inc. > > Portions © 1993 - 2004 NAVTEQ. All rights reserved. That mix of data probably explains why they could geocode an address, when they didn’t have a drawing of the road. Sounds like the database they used for drawing is just missing a road.