Route 30 Mislabeled On Google Maps
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A major American roadway that runs through the Delaware Valley has been annexed by our neighbor to the north. That is, if you believe Google Maps.
If you believe Google is gospel, not so on Route 30.
"Somehow it's been multiplexed with Quebec Route 366."
Jeff Kitsko says Lancaster Avenue, Lincoln Highway, and beyond -- the entire cross-country length, the 3,073 miles from Atlantic City, NJ all the way to Astoria, OR -- appears as that strangely-named Canadian road in Google Maps and directions. (Try typing in Wayne, PA to Philadelphia, for example, and you'll see.)
Kitsko runs the road enthusiast website www.PAHighways.com. He says the search giant has opened up its mapping software to the tinkerers. Mostly, they keep Google honest, reporting new highways and fixing wrongly-marked byways. But someone may have slipped this one -- this designation of an actual provincial highway in French-speaking Canada -- through the cracks:
"It's been something that's been brought to Google's attention, and I really don't know what's taken them so long to fix it."
On the Internet, he says, such sabotage is fait accompli:
"I believe there was one incident where someone had marked the entire United States as a military reserve. That's one of the dangers with having too many cooks in the kitchen."
This Google Maps eyebrow-raiser doesn't take you the wrong way -- it simply adds a certain je ne sais quoi to your navigation.
Reported by Ian Bush, KYW Newsradio
