Google faked NY address to make Apple Maps look bad

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Stay classy Google.



  • Steven Fisher

    Interestingly, if you specify Manhattan (as the ad says, rather than as it does) Apple Maps returns the same results as Google Maps.

    • Matt W

      I would think that is because there is no valid address with the new constraint so it approximates.

  • http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

    Wow, he spent a lot of time to prove he’s wrong. :-/

    Nearly every street has a positive and negative (north or south, east or west) side of the street EVEN if there isn’t anything there. The thing he doesn’t get is simple: Google provides approximate addresses as well.

    Drop a pin in the middle of a street without any houses/properties and it’ll try to approximate the address. I’ve used this before to find addresses I wasn’t sure about back home.

    Ultimately, would you rather be utterly wrong (315 Marlborough Rd is not equal to 315 E. 15th St) or be sent to the right location?

    I just searched on my 4S and my S3. Give me the “classy” Google result any day.

    • Matt W

      But if there is a valid address within 20 miles, why doesn’t google take you there?

      • http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

        Why would it when that one is valid? The one 20 miles away is named completely different, right? (assuming you mean Marlborough)

        • http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

          …and the bigger question is why does Apple take you 20 miles away from your intended address.

        • http://twitter.com/forty2j Jim McPherson

          Did you read the whole piece? The one further way is still in NYC (just a different borough), and “NY” is a vague enough search that it shouldn’t be limiting to just Manhattan. And the address Apple reported could still be correctly referred to as E 15th St.. it’s one of those cases where a few blocks of 15th St got a new name.

          • http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

            sure, that explains it. :-

          • http://twitter.com/forty2j Jim McPherson

            I swear half the streets in NYC have 3 names. It’s silly. Given the vagueness of the query, both Apple’s and Google’s response are correct.

          • http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

            Houston does as well. Many times two streets merge and one changes names part the way through and both become one new one. (very weird)

            They could be correct but they aren’t. Only one is.

          • http://twitter.com/forty2j Jim McPherson

            One’s an interpolated address that doesn’t actually exist. One’s an alternate form of a real address. Why would you say only one is right?

    • JohnDoey

      Many large cities have more than one E 15th street, because they are often made up of what used to be smaller cities.

      You can also be in Manhattan and ask for an address like E 15th Street and the Brooklyn one is the closest.

      How is this a real world example of Google Maps being better? How many people ever went looking for this park by its street address? None ever? Why did Google not pick a better comparison if Apple Maps are so flawed?

      • http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

        Conjecture at best but ok.

        No matter what address they chose, the ad is true. It is meant to show the large disparity between accuracy on the iPhone versus an Android phone. The iPhone will get better with time, I don’t doubt that and I fully expect it, but right now it is a sad situation and you can’t defend it by crying foul over which address they chose to showcase in an advertisement, keyword advertisement.

  • GMcC

    What ever happened to “Do no evil”?

    • Boo

      Google isn’t evil. They figured out a long time ago chaotic neutral is more profitable.

  • http://twitter.com/75th Lanny Heidbreder

    This is offtopic, but you really must do something about the double-posting every article to your Twitter feed. It’s always one post without the link, shortly followed by another post with the link. It’s maddening.

  • http://www.thegraphicmac.com/ JimD

    You know, it’s also possible they made up an address for the same reason TV shows and movies use 555- for phone numbers… just throwing that out there.

    Had they used a real address, somebody would probably want to sue Google for royalty fees, invasion of privacy, or some ridiculous thing like that.

    • AtoH

      They could have used an address of a public place if that was really the case.

    • JohnDoey

      How hard is it to find a landmark in Manhattan?

      Empire State Building 5th Avenue Apple Store 1 Wall Street 10,000 more

      … they used a fake address because they are incompetent and have no values.

      • http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

        Lulz!

  • DocRoss

    If I’m not mistaken, I pointed this out in a thread here last week. Not trying to toot my own horn, but…

    And yes, Mr. Bland, 315 Marlborough Rd. is equal to 315 E. 15th Street. Marlborough Rd is what E. 15th Street is called in that part of town.

  • http://www.johncblandii.com John C. Bland II

    Ok, understand. Still not seeing the issue on GMaps.

  • http://twitter.com/shycophante Shyco Phante

    I’m not sure someone who called a fellow writer an “asshole” earlier for daring to critique Apple’s TV strategy should be advising anyone else to “stay classy”.

    • Jim H

      You mean the Jim Dalrymple corporation? Yes, it’s absolutely the same thing, isn’t it? What an asshole.