Glaring Map Errors

[CapeCodder]

I came across a map once when I was about twelve years old. The map was from Seeger Map Company (don't know if the company is still around) and featured Springfield and Decatur, Illinois. Aside from pretty crappy cartography, there was a *really* noticeable error: The expressway portion of US 51 that leaves I-72 and heads southeast was marked I-412.

Yes. I-412. This was from years ago, and thus didn't have a camera to take a photo.

[bassoon1986]

Baton Rouge just called. Their much needed loop is missing


iPhone

[pdx-wanderer]

This error might not seem so big but is sure had glaring consequences, when I was in high school, my hometown of Cottage Grove, OR held a garden tour for the surrounding area (mostly directed at folks from Eugene/Springfield). Well, the person who created the map in the guide brochure that was handed out to the tour-goers (mostly elderly people who were unfamiliar with the area) made a mistake. Exit 172: Sixth St. on I-5 south was marked as "Exit 171" which may not seem like a big deal until you realize that the next exit on I-5 south isn't until Exit 163, nine miles later! Needless to say, the day of that tour was a bit hectic, and Curtin, OR (Exit 163) probably got a notable uptick in visitors.

[SectorZ]

A local Chinese restaurant near me has a map in its menu. It notes that near it is "Wendy" and "Applebeef". Not glaring, but always makes me laugh.

[Jordanes]

I somewhere have a AAA map of Virginia which shows a phantom expressway near Bedford that goes south from US 460 to a location marked "Town".

If you have AAA maps, check...it's dated probably 2002 or so. I'll eventually dig mine out of storage.

[GaryV]

Beatosu and Goblu:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatosu_and_Goblu

[CNGL-Leudimin]

I have a map of Germany which features a city named Bielefeld .

[inkyatari]

I once saw a map of the SW Chicago burbs that had the Fox Valley Freeway shown as being under construction.

[PHLBOS]

Recent editions of AAA's Boston & Vicinity road maps have shown I-20 or I-2 shields (depending on which edition) along Commonwealth Ave.  It's actually MA 2; although it was once US 20 prior to 1964.

A late 70s vintage Rand McNally Boston & Vicinity map showed an I-93 shield along MA 228 (Main St.) in Hingham.

[Henry]

For many years, the Circumferential Highway around Nashua was shown as a full loop under construction, but in the latest editions, only the southernmost segment is shown as open, with the rest of the loop completely gone. (NIMBYs were probably the main cause of this)

[Rothman]

Or, more likely, Rand McNally was just not updating their vector file with the reality that it will not be done in my lifetime.  Them calling it "under construction" all that time when absolutely nothing was happening is on them, not necessarily NIMBYs.

[PHLBOS]

One restaurant in Nahant, MA called The Tides used to show a hand-drawn map of the region with some surrounding roads & highways on their paper placemats; they did such through the mid-1980s. 

In addition to some erroneous route number listings (Route 11A for Route 114 as an example), the placemat/map also showed the long-since-cancelled I-95 alignment north of Revere as a completed highway.

[CapeCodder]

A local Chinese restaurant near me has a map in its menu. It notes that near it is "Wendy" and "Applebeef". Not glaring, but always makes me laugh.

A Chinese restaurant in Falmouth here on the Cape has "Shreed" Beef on their picture menu.

[hotdogPi]

Cross-posted from another thread:


Mysterious America Puzzle by formulanone, on Flickr

[Hurricane Rex]

For a while, the Rand McNally atlas had US 97 as a 2 lane highway between Sunriver and Redmond (corrected in 2015) and OR 34 (also corrected in 2015).

[Brandon]

IDOT has several on the map they issue:

1. Exit 112 at I-80 and IL-47 in Morris is still listed as Exit 112 A-B even though the cloverleaf was changed to a diamond almost two decades ago.
2. Exit 253 at I-55 and US-52 in Joliet is still listed as Exit 253 A-B even though the cloverleaf was changed to a diamond in the early 1990s.
3. Missing several ramps on the Chicagoland inset for Exit 131 on I-80.
4. Exit 145 at I-80 and US-45 in Mokena is still listed as Exit 145 A-B even though the cloverleaf was changed to a six-ramp parclo a decade ago.
5. The plaza numbers are used on the Chicagoland and DeKalb insets for the I-88 exits instead of the exit numbers, in addition to an "Exit 66" at IL-23 and I-88, a place with no interchange what-so-ever.
6. Cloverleafs shown at Lawrence, Wilson, and Montrose on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago.  These were converted to diamonds before 1980!

[hbelkins]

One I remember from my youth is an oil company map, which I think may have been printed by Gousha.

This was back when US 411 did not end at Newport, Tenn., but instead ran along what is now US 321 to Greeneville and then along US 11E to end at Bristol. North of Bristol, the map showed the concurrency of 11E, 19W and 411. But after the two branches of US 19 met and merged, the maps showed the route as 11E, 19 and 441.

[Big John]

The official 1967 State of Wisconsin map omitted the community of Winneconne, causing them to celebrate "Sovereign Day" every year.

[bzakharin]

The worst I remember, not really so bad, was a phone-book map (back when they were decent) showing NJ 90 as I-90. A great honor for a few miles of freeway.

[Jordanes]

I have a map of Germany which features a city named Bielefeld .

Your map is fake. Bielefeld does not exist.

[kurumi]

Commemorative Tercentenary Map of Connecticut, 1935 (David Rumsey Collection)

This is more of a souvenir map than a gas company or state DOT map, so let's give it some leeway, and not complain about small routes omitted for clarity; or omitted portions of otherwise shown routes; or designations a couple years out of date.

Even grading on that curve, this map has more glaring typos than I can remember seeing anywhere else. Here's 13 I found:
"90" - should be CT 190, Suffield
60 - 160
75 - 175 (sort of a pattern here -- careless transcription)
6 - 122 (what)
111 - 114
104 - 10A
82 - 148 (would be a nice renumber with a new bridge)
86 - county rd, woodstock (never a state road AFAIK)
15 - 151 (they can drop the 1's digit too)
US 6 - 69, waterbury
142 - 141 (soooo close)
35 - 25, brookfield
33 - 39, new fairfield

[US 89]

Cross-posted from another thread:


Mysterious America Puzzle by formulanone, on Flickr

Holy shit. I was hoping this was a joke, but I don't think it was...

[ftballfan]

A local Chinese restaurant near me has a map in its menu. It notes that near it is "Wendy" and "Applebeef". Not glaring, but always makes me laugh.

A local Chinese restaurant in my area also has a map on its menu. It contains "Miloh gan Ave" for Michigan Ave and "Sarvice Dr" for Service Dr

[formulanone]

Cross-posted from another thread:


Mysterious America Puzzle by formulanone, on Flickr

Holy shit. I was hoping this was a joke, but I don’t think it was...

My wife bought this wooden puzzle set back in 2008 or so (I forget where) which had a sealed set of 8 puzzles: shapes, colors, fruits, letters, numbers, and a few others. And they're great for kids aged 2-4, for that gray area between fine-motor and gross-motor skills, and figuring out how assemble two-dimensional things.

Idano, at least the other puzzles were all correct...

I remember getting a puzzle back in 1980 or so, which probably had about 60 pieces to assemble the Canadian and Mexico borders, and all the states (Connecticut-Rhode Island were connected, as were Maryland-Delaware) with capitals, major cities, mountain ranges, lakes, and rivers all labelled...I don't remember if it had major highways. Nice quality, one of my favorite toys as a kid.

This wooden one has also has my personal pet-peeve of having the same-colored political borders for non-comparative purposes (yes, that means strategically choosing the right colors for Iowa, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Zambia, and Luxembourg).

[hbelkins]

Idano.

Sounds like Grumpy Cat's favorite state.