Jun 30th, 2008
When the Web Gets it Wrong
The extent to which we depend on the Web was brought home to me over the weekend — as well as the risk of counting too much on the Web for reliable information. Ginny, our youngest daughter, needed to find her way through a convoluted section of Portland near Lewis & Clark college for a babysitting assignment. Inexplicably, Mapquest sent her down a narrow road directly into someone’s yard and up a very steep hill. It seems that this happens quite frequently and despite repeated attempts to get this mapping error fixed — the road does NOT go through — it’s still happening. This wouldn’t be that bad expect that hill is really steep and doesn’t have anywhere to turn around. In the course of backing down, Ginny managed to roll over a small retaining wall and get the car stuck on a boulder she dislodged. While everyone was very helpful, it took Mary and me going over there — instead of a barbeque — and crawling around in the dirt shoving boulders around. Despite the frustration, it was a useful reminder not to believe everything you see, hear or read on the Web. Unfortunately, even established services still have a ways to go. It does seem that mapping services should have some built-in way to allow people to update and comment on bad directions. Now that would be a good direction.
