When maps create reality

[Alps]

http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/643-agloe-the-paper-town-stronger-than-fiction

Has this ever happened before? Someone saw a dot on a map and started naming things after it?

[hbelkins]

From the land of Beatosu and Goblu.

Which brings me to a thought. Rand McNally will occasionally include a town called Beattyville on their Quebec maps. It's located on Route 113, near the town of Senneterre. I always thought the only Beattyville in the world was in Kentucky until I accidentally discovered Quebec's version in a Rand McNally atlas. I wonder if it's a copyright trap like Agloe, Goblu and Beatosu? J.P. Kirby says it was an old logging camp town, but I have never found any evidence of its existence, and it's not on the most recent R McN for which I have access.

[1995hoo]

http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/643-agloe-the-paper-town-stronger-than-fiction

Has this ever happened before? Someone saw a dot on a map and started naming things after it?

Sounds a little bit similar to the story about Norwood, Maryland, appearing on BGSs: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/commuting/take-the-icc-and-exit-at-norwood--where/2012/01/04/gIQAoo7SfP_story.html

The idea of putting fake listings reminds me of the Supreme Court's Feist case in which a phone company claimed their copyright in an alphabetical phone book had been violated and cited, as proof, the phony entries they'd included. They lost.

[sdmichael]

There is a good book about this called "How to Lie With Maps" by Mark Monmonier. It covers all sorts of naming issues and other fun stuff.
http://www.markmonmonier.com/how_to_lie_with_maps_14880.htm

[webfil]

From the land of Beatosu and Goblu.

Which brings me to a thought. Rand McNally will occasionally include a town called Beattyville on their Quebec maps. It's located on Route 113, near the town of Senneterre. I always thought the only Beattyville in the world was in Kentucky until I accidentally discovered Quebec's version in a Rand McNally atlas. I wonder if it's a copyright trap like Agloe, Goblu and Beatosu? J.P. Kirby says it was an old logging camp town, but I have never found any evidence of its existence, and it's not on the most recent R McN for which I have access.

Beattyville existed. The town lost its last residents in 1980. A post office has been open with the name Beattyville there in 1962.

[Brian556]

In Denton ,Tx, the city puts "FM 2164" on it's street signs on all of Locust Street, despite FM 2164 only actually existing on the far northern portion of it.
The other portions are actually US 77, US 77/377, and south of Eagle Dr, no state designation at all.

I'm wondering if this is because this error has appeared on Mapsco maps for years.

https://www.google.com/maps?ll=33.229929,-97.136135&spn=0.101088,0.199299&t=m&z=13

https://www.google.com/maps?ll=33.214526,-97.132561&spn=0.000018,0.012456&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=33.214526,-97.132561&panoid=S6QXx7cTpksgnR82w8f1kQ&cbp=12,327.76,,2,-15

[NE2]

Mapkind's dord.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dord

[hbelkins]

Beattyville existed. The town lost its last residents in 1980. A post office has been open with the name Beattyville there in 1962.

Wow. Thanks for that info. Got any links or other sources that I could share with my hometown friends?

[iowahighways]

From the land of Beatosu and Goblu.

Which brings me to a thought. Rand McNally will occasionally include a town called Beattyville on their Quebec maps. It's located on Route 113, near the town of Senneterre. I always thought the only Beattyville in the world was in Kentucky until I accidentally discovered Quebec's version in a Rand McNally atlas. I wonder if it's a copyright trap like Agloe, Goblu and Beatosu? J.P. Kirby says it was an old logging camp town, but I have never found any evidence of its existence, and it's not on the most recent R McN for which I have access.

RMcN has put the unincorporated town of Saydel, IA, on its Des Moines inset for years at the interchange of I-35/80 and IA 415. Saydel is the name of the school district that serves the unincorporated area between Ankeny and Des Moines, but it is not the name of a city, town, or CDP.

[NE2]

it is not the name of a city, town, or CDP.

Doesn't mean it's not a real place.

[iowahighways]

it is not the name of a city, town, or CDP.

Doesn't mean it's not a real place.

My point is, RMcN is the only cartographer that recognizes a town called Saydel. Not DeLorme, Google Maps, Bing Maps, Gousha when they were around, or the Iowa DOT. In reality, the only entity called "Saydel" is the school district.

[Alps]

it is not the name of a city, town, or CDP.

Doesn't mean it's not a real place.

My point is, RMcN is the only cartographer that recognizes a town called Saydel. Not DeLorme, Google Maps, Bing Maps, Gousha when they were around, or the Iowa DOT. In reality, the only entity called "Saydel" is the school district.

Maps ought to reflect usage. People in New Jersey use "Iselin" to refer to a section of Woodbridge, so it's proper for maps (and even highway signs) to have a dot for it at the appropriate scale. On the other hand, no one uses "Northfield" anymore for the southern section of Livingston Twp., so the dot should not appear on any map. If Saydel is a name not in common use, few will be looking for it on a map.

[DTComposer]

So NPR picked up on the Strange Maps blog post

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2014/03/18/290236647/an-imaginary-town-becomes-real-then-not-true-story

...and found that Agloe is no longer appearing on Google maps.

[Laura]

This was always my idea for how I would name a new subdivision as a developer. I'd go back and look at old place names in that area for ideas rather than create the next carnation of "Sunni Wynd Lane".


iPhone

[brianreynolds]

This was always my idea for how I would name a new subdivision as a developer. I'd go back and look at old place names in that area for ideas rather than create the next carnation of "Sunni Wynd Lane".

When I was in college, one required project was to draw a fictional new proposed subdivision.  I named it "Austerity Acres".

[agentsteel53]

"Sunni Wynd Lane"

wasn't she in Anal Buttocks Girls from Deep Space?

[Mr Downtown]

Virtually none of the errors found on maps are deliberate copyright traps.  The value of such "traps" was always a little dubious, and since 1991 (the Feist decision) they have been of no legal use whatever.

Virtually all map mistakes are just that: mistakes.  Commercial map publishing is a low-margin business, and there is, unfortunately, no real market value to greater accuracy.  It's nice to claim that Rand McNally should only display names actually used by locals–but where would they find that dataset?  The Geographic Names Information System, used by virtually every big map compiler, includes many thousands of names of "populated places"–old subdivision names, towns absorbed or abandoned in the 19th century, railroad siding names–that are no longer in use.

[TEG24601]

it is not the name of a city, town, or CDP.

Doesn't mean it's not a real place.

Exactly, I live near an area called Greenbank.  It is a post office/ZIP code, but not a CDP, City, or Town.  It is very confusing for people trying to get phone numbers for the businesses in the area, because if they call one phone company, they know all about it, if you call the other phone company or Long Distance information, you have to ask for the neighboring town of Coupeville.