Google Maps is not infallible. It’s been known to give wonky directions, as Sarah and I learned on Sunday when Google Maps mistakenly thought McCarren Park in Brooklyn was in Manhattan. Luckily we caught the mistake before we got completely lost. However, that’s nothing compared to the Google Maps fail for one NJ neighborhood, where they’ve mistakenly indicated the state park entrance is someone’s driveway.
According to NJ.com:
Since 1987, Gneiding and her husband Michael Brady have lived in one of three log homes found at the end of a quarter-mile long driveway in Clinton Township. The homes back Round Valley State Park, which boasts swimming, boating and camping in summer, and cross country skiing and sledding in the winter.
“We’re surrounded on three sides by woods with the state park as our ‘backyard,’” Gneiding said “We love being in the midst of nature.”
But in the past three years, along with visits from a bald eagle, bear, coyote, foxes and dozens of species of birds, the couple has had a new kind of visitor: humans looking for the entrance to the state park.
“It started with one or two people but last year dozens of people were coming up,” she said. “This year, someone told us that the directions for Round Valley State Park on Google Maps led them to our driveway.”
The worst part isn’t that people are apparently quite rude and continue to blow past the homemade blockades indicating Google Maps is wrong. What’s worse is that Google was notified months ago and has yet to fully correct the problem! I cannot imagine having to live with a parade of people popping up convinced that, despite all indications and signs to the contrary, Google Maps has sent them to the correct area. Hopefully, some increased attention to the problem will help encourage Google to fix this faster!
Have you encountered any Google Maps issues as egregious as this? Share the worst of them in the comments!