Yahoo Japan Recognizes Locals Might Know A Bit More About Local Info
from the about-time dept
In the ongoing effort by the various search players to better serve the “local” market, they all seem focused on building up huge databases of info that they go out and collect themselves — including things like actual photos of entire streets in some cases. However, when it comes to local and map info, who knows better than the locals themselves? It appears that Yahoo Japan has finally recognized this fact and has added the ability for users to submit additional info or to correct maps if they find something wrong with them. Given the number of times we’ve seen stories about people being driven astray by bad online maps and bad directions, it would seem like a simple “this isn’t correct” button would be great. For example, the data that all the big mapping services have (from NAVTEQ, I believe) that pinpoints my house has it in the wrong spot. It would be great if I could easily inform these mapping sites that they’ve pinpointed the neighbors around the corner as being my address — but as it stands there’s no easy way to do so. NAVTEQ has a web form for requesting changes, but it’s fairly cumbersome and it requires people to go search out NAVTEQ’s website, rather than directly from where they spot the error. However, in cases of just additional useful local info, letting locals fill in the data could be quite useful — if there’s a good way to verify that the info is legit.
Comments on “Yahoo Japan Recognizes Locals Might Know A Bit More About Local Info”
Internet Navigation booboo
A “Fix it” button would be really nice for those of us who have tried technology as a tool for navigation, but have found that computerized maps in any flavor are less than accurate. I live in a small city, and most of my clients live in very rural communities. I find that I have to rely on paper based maps for almost 10% of my daily visits. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but when you live in BFE USA, that can mean the difference between a 30 minute drive, and a two hour “where the F@#$ am I” fest.
Lost in Space
Just recently I used an online map to see where the local Lowes was. It confidently pinpointed a spot on the south west corner of town. I drove to the place where the little pin identified and instead of a hardware store, I found a house. I tiny one at that. I thought I had messed something up, so I went back and double checked my computerize map. Yep, my computer says the store should right here. You would figure that a big hardware store like Lowes could get their store in the right spot, but alas their builder messed something up. Come to find out, they put the store on the North West side of town. It has been there for 10 years (under various names, but with the same address).
Been to Tokyo
There’s so much construction that nobody can really keep track. I ended up explaining to the cab drivers how to get to my 5 star hotel (not bragging – the company paid for it, just saying that if you’re going to know about any hotels, the Westin Tokyo would be one of them) and to the 2 month old office building.
Re: Been to Tokyo
Why are Tokyo’s streets so chaotic? The romantic version of the story says that Tokyo is a castle town, so the streets were purposefully built crooked to make it difficult for invaders.
The less romantic version says that Tokyo was burnt to a lunar landscape during WW2, then rebuilt by land-claiming opportunists who staked arbitrary land claims. The land claims were settled by gangsters who sold their land-clearance services to the highest bidder, then much later the government “officially” approved the land claims.