Why You Can't Always Trust Your Handy Map App

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At the end of August, for instance, Snapchat users woke up early to find the app’s internal map had renamed New York City with the antiSemitic label “Jewtropolis.” In Washington, D.C., Google Maps incorrectly renamed a Senate office building after the late Sen. John McCain a few days after his death on Aug. 25. Researchers have found numerous fake business listings in Google Maps for plumbers and hotels — apparent attempts to game search results and juice referral traffic.

Digital maps are a modern uber-convenience, capable of pinpointing nearby landmarks, shops and restaurants, highlighting traffic jams and navigating you to destinations across the country. Google, Apple and a variety of lesser known companies constantly update these real world representations using a variety of sophisticated tools, from satellites in orbit to the phone in your hand.

But there’s another important input: crowdsourced data submitted by ordinary people, which can make today’s maps more like Wikipedia than Rand McNally. When the navigation app Waze flags a highway accident, for instance, it’s because drivers further down the road have reported it. Other unpaid volunteers submit information on new business locations, landmarks and even new roads.

All that is a bet that the wisdom of the crowd eventually ends up getting it right. But “eventually” can take a while, and in the meantime, pesky humans can still muck things up but good.