To truly be a map geek, you need to revel in little oddities and differences between online map services. Despite the denials of the cartographers who claim to prize accuracy above all else, there is plenty of evidence that mapmakers embed “copyright traps” into their maps so that they can identify when their data is stolen. (My cache here points one out.)
Let’s find some more of these oddities! There’s an easy p&g on one of these maps.
EXAMPLE A: 72 & Bedford
Here at the northeast corner of 72nd & Bedford there’s an auto parts store. Strangely, Google Maps considers a trip through its parking lot to be a trip on a city street, despite it not treating the beauty supply store or car wash across the street in a similar way. The other map services ignore the parking lot (although bing misidentifies Autozone as a filling station). My guess? A copyright trap.
EXAMPLE B: Trendwood Park, 132 & Pacific
There are some actual city streets that run through city parks, but they are generally clearly marked as such. Trendwood Park at 132nd & Pacific has a parking lot with access to both Pacific and 132nd, but it’s quite a stretch to make it look like a street. Even stranger is to draw a phony street that doesn’t even cut all the way through! My guess: another copyright trap. An alternate theory would be a pigtail that connects the streetside bike trail from Pacific to...what?
EXAMPLE C: 90th & Military
Hmmm… why would Google be the only mapping service that considers the driveways into McDonald’s and Gordman’s, near the corner of 90th & Military, nameless city streets that go nowhere?
EXAMPLE D: MT. SINAI CEMETERY, 78th & Crown Point
This one is a little trickier. Like municipal parks, roads through cemeteries aren’t always actual city streets, but they are often indicated on maps even when private. Here at Mt. Sinai cemetery near 78th & Crown Point, directly west of the tall television towers, the only residents of No. 77th St. and Mt. Sinai Cemetery Road seem to be the dearly departed. Do they still get mail? Google and Open Street Map (which is open-source and somewhat editable by its users) even claim that the gated driveway to the south is actually Himebaugh Ave., which seems unlikely. The verdict is still out on this one. What do you think?
Sources: the small slices of maps are under fair use, and are the property of the map providers for Google, bing, MapQuest and OpenStreetMap.
For the truly map-obsessed, there's information about the map sources (and tools used to create the new maps) at the WBs geocaching blog. Use the "Related Web Page" link above.