dg comments

please empty your brain below

I noticed "The May Fair" a few weeks back. Seemed odd that it wasn't the same location as "Mayfair", though it is the more accurate of the two.

Chz | 09.12.10 - 8:11 a.m. | #

The south-east corner of the Aldwych is listed as (the presumably Welsh) 'Y Strand'

martin | Homepage | 09.12.10 - 8:55 a.m. | #

I discovereed recently that the M25 is labelled "Autoroute britannique M25"

TimE | 09.12.10 - 9:06 a.m. | #

Albertopolis?!?!?!?

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=51.500515,-0.17046&spn=0.065612,0.132351&z=13

Simon | Homepage | 09.12.10 - 9:16 a.m. | #

I suspect it may be due to the very clever but not infallible heuristic way a lot of Google software works. I cannot see how the problem can be eliminated without human intervention. It will always generate some bizarre results.

I even found a place near Epping labelled "Theydon Bois" that Google thinks is a London neighbourhood. Clearly some mistake!

Pedantic of Purley | 09.12.10 - 9:20 a.m. | #

I suspect Albertopolis was generated because there is an article in Wikipedia with that name which gives the impression it is an established name for an area of London. Google spots the article and the co-ordinates supplied with the inevitable result.

Pedantic of Purley | 09.12.10 - 9:31 a.m. | #

There was a lovely bit recently when Google Maps introduced the feature of showing closed train lines and stations.

Amongst the many returned from the dead was Merton Abbey Station which closed to passengers in 1929.

Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 09.12.10 - 10:17 a.m. | #

Whilst Google Maps may be USA-based, the data they use frequently isn't. That for the UK for example is supplied by Teleatlas amongst others (see the very small print in the bottom right hand corner of a Google map) which is a Dutch company now owned by TomTom.

Tim | 09.12.10 - 10:38 a.m. | #

There's a "South Bermonsey" [sic]
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=51.498912,-0.17724&spn=0.014988,0.035062&t=h&z=15

andy | 09.12.10 - 10:44 a.m. | #

Re: South Bermonsey

This is exactly what happens. One person makes a spelling mistake. Unfortunately it results in loads of websites reproducing it (taxislocally.co.uk, plumberslocally.co.uk etc, etc) that identify the location. These websites get an enormous number of hits and Google thinks it is a reliable source and adds it to its map. It is why spelling is so important in this modern data-mining world. And before anyone mentions it I am aware I often make spelling mistakes despite my best efforts.

Pedantic of Purley | 09.12.10 - 11:29 a.m. | #

Google maps also is very bad for telling you motorway junction numbers. The numbers are there but very, very small and in dark blue writing on a blue coloured road.

allotmentqueen | 09.12.10 - 11:54 a.m. | #

Are spelling mistakes or non-existent roads/railways still used as the mapmaker's guard against plagiarism?

Gordon | 09.12.10 - 1:18 p.m. | #

So I wonder how difficult it is to sabotage the maps? I would love to see this as an "google official" placename
http://tinyurl.com/DeGeezer

Simon | Homepage | 09.12.10 - 1:31 p.m. | #

Searching for London Bridge (to try and find the station) with any online mapping system is always a geographic gamble:

maps.google.co.uk sends you to Lake Havasu City, Arizona (understandable I guess, given that that's where London-Bridge-not-Tower-Bridge was moved to).

streetmap.co.uk brings up a rock formation on the northern side of Torbay, which I suppose is a better result by a few thousand miles than Google, but still not much use for finding the station.

Pete | 09.12.10 - 1:50 p.m. | #

Pete, try searching for 'London Bridge Railway Station'. It would cause the same confusion if you tried searching for Bank (to try and find the underground station)

mark | 09.12.10 - 2:29 p.m. | #

Pete, don't bother.

Streetmap won't find it. Google maps, interestingly, finds it and correctly locates it on the map but states the location as "Camberwell, United Kingdom" !

Pedantic of Purley | 09.12.10 - 3:16 p.m. | #

Whereas Google puts the London Dungeon (physically underneath London Bridge station) in the City of London. I would have thought Southwark would have been the correct description for both places.

Pedantic of Purley | 09.12.10 - 3:20 p.m. | #

The Broad Street to Poplar railway is in there still, despite being closed to passengers during WW2 and replaced by what is now the A12.

Steve | 09.12.10 - 3:43 p.m. | #

"Albertopolis" is obsolete but reasonably kosher; even the Natural History Museum mentions it on their website -

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/history-architecture/architecture-tour/minerals-gallery/albertopolis/

Conversely, a search for Kentish Town West dumps you in the middle of Tasmania - http://bit.ly/9JrcBZ

GaspardW | 09.12.10 - 3:56 p.m. | #

Green street, Upton Park

siddiq | Homepage | 09.12.10 - 5:03 p.m. | #

Street View recently directed me to "Yorkshire du nord".

Great Aunt Annie | 09.12.10 - 6:34 p.m. | #

Yeah, it's like that here in New York Too. Nonexistent neighborhoods like Haberman and Trinity and Washington Square Village and Clinton (well, actually that's a "real" place name coined by real estate agents who were having trouble moving apartments in Hell's Kitchen) and Prince Street and Peck Slip.

Josh | 09.12.10 - 10:32 p.m. | #

What people refer to as Dalston isn't really Dalston, for the most part. Same thing with a lot of what passes for Stoke Newington these days. I guess it's just what happens over time.

That said, none of this really touches on the original post, which was about odd names on Google Maps. I've got one, but I'm not sure if it's real or not: Ply Park. That's (according to Google) the little park just south of Shoreditch Park. I've only ever seen that on Google Maps. Any ideas?

@Josh - Clinton is as 'real' as the 'East Village.' Sometimes those made-up names stick around and gain some acceptance. I still prefer Hell's Kitchen, though.

Polkatronixx | 09.12.10 - 10:45 p.m. | #

Area names are quite fluid over time; Rotherhithe/Surrey Quays/Canada Water for example tend to be used fairly interchangeably depending on the person, how long they've lived around here, and which station they tend to use.

Some, like Hatcham, disappear altogether (that's the old name for the area around New Cross Gate stn to bottom end of Old Kent Road which just goes by the station name now)

SELondoner | 10.12.10 - 7:29 a.m. | #

I like that it calls that bit "Albertopolis".

I am planning to keep calling it that, and if anyone mentions South Kensington again, I will ignore it.

Though I think it should be called "Museumtown".

Tom | Homepage | 10.12.10 - 10:29 a.m. | #

I'm amazed nobody's noticed "Pont Waterloo" yet...

Tom | 15.12.10 - 12:17 a.m. | #

having finally oomphed myself back over the ocean last month, i found a short-term flat near gipsy hill station (actually on the walking trail that i think DG did a couple of months back via crystal palace park) and when i was getting my bearings for the neighbourhood with an internet map (it wasn't googlemaps - i try not to use google for much -- i think it might have been streetmap.co.uk, since i discovered that multimap had been swallowed by bing...), there was a street called "W. Ow" street, and only when i got to the area and was trying to find the sainsbury's did i realize that the map had been indicating "Westow" street. obviously some kind of software that translated every introductory "west" into "w." had made a mistake.

cm | 23.12.10 - 12:08 a.m. | #

White City -> White Stadt.

Well, yes, there was a White City Stadium, but that was demolished in 1985. And wasn't in Germany.

I think it's a new addition to the Google maps, as it appears from quite far out.

Peter of London | 24.01.11 - 8:02 p.m. | #

I noticed another oddity today - the label for HMS Belfast shows up on the map on the web as a series of "can't display this character" boxes - but on my phone, it displays as 贝尔法斯特号, which appears to be Chinese for Belfast.
See http://m.google.co.uk/u/m/zZjl3k (and the same link on an Android phone for the full effect)

martin | Homepage | 28.01.11 - 10:32 a.m. | #

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