Internet maps overlook bypass

The white sedan is heading east on Highway 4 toward Angels Camp.

About 400 feet ahead lies Highway 49 and, according to satellite footage from Google Maps, a head-on collision with a shopping center that was paved more than two-and-a-half years ago.

Almost six months have passed since the Highway 4 Angels Camp Bypass opened, but maps from Google, Yahoo, Mapquest, Microsoft’s search engine Bing and several GPS providers have yet to be updated with the new route.

“A lot of people still think it’s closed,” said Lydia Stafford, who works at the Calaveras Visitors Bureau reception desk.
  

Council members and city staff have said they are eager to get the maps corrected and end the confusion. But David Hanham, city planning director, said that, as far as he knows, the city’s hands are tied.

“We really can’t do anything until the old Highway 4 is relinquished,” he said.

In other words, until Caltrans officially turns over ownership of the old Highway 4, now called Vallecito Road, to the city.

“Then we can send Google and all those guys the information showing that Vallecito Road now exists,” as well as the new Highway 4 route, Hanham said. Caltrans could not be reached in time for comment.

Microsoft and Mapquest each use a variety of data to construct their maps, but both rely on NAVTEQ, a Chicago-based digital map company that operates in more than 40 countries. Messages sent to Yahoo and Google were not returned.

Mapquest urges its users to take matters into their own hands.

“We encourage users to notify NAVTEQ directly regarding mapping data issues, such as new roads that need to be added to its database,” read a statement from a company spokesperson.

Anyone can report a needed update at mapreporter.nav-teq.com.

The Highway 4 bypass is far from the map programs’ only local shortcoming. As many frustrated drivers know, the algorithms used to calculate routes can misfire.

For instance, most map programs will direct drivers who look up how to get to Greenhorn Creek from anywhere south of Angels Camp to take a private road that ends at a gate.

People turning on their GPS and turning off their brains is not unique to urban travel. Patricia Clarey, recreation officer with the Stanislaus National Forest’s Calaveras Ranger District, said GPS systems can lead people astray in the forest.

“People go out into the wilderness and trails will show up on the map that no longer exist on the ground,” she said.

Often, the maps refer to roads that are no longer maintained.

The systems also fail to distinguish between public and private property, which is problematic because many U.S. Forest Service roads run through private land and are not open to the public.

“You could be trespassing and not even know it,” she said.

Some GPS and online mapping systems actually introduce errors into their programs to prevent competitors from stealing their work, according to Doug Polzoni, manager of the county’s Geographic Information Systems department.

“They’ll put in an extra lake or an extra river with no name for their own proprietary software,” he said.

Some companies use GPS devices to map the roads themselves, but given the plethora of either signless or mislabeled county roads, errors creep in. Sometimes the confusion is not limited to the outsiders.

“It’s difficult for us to go out and know where the heck we are,” Polzoni said.

Polzoni thinks his department’s map — which NAVTEQ actually requests about once a year to update their system — is more accurate than most, but he admits it is not infallible.

For instance, if you zoom in on Angels Camp on their map, it still shows Highway 4 stopping at Highway 49.