Background information
Why maps are out of this world
by Carolin Teufelberger
Trap streets – intentional mistakes made by Google Maps and co.
31.3.2022
Translation: Megan Cornish
Maps should help you find your way, not confuse you. Nevertheless, there are an increasing number of streets and even whole places on maps that you will never find in real life. This is no accident.
Recently, I rented a car for the holidays, choosing to do without a conventional sat nav. Partly because the extra costs (which wouldn’t have made any difference) annoyed me and partly because I somewhat arrogantly thought that I didn't need a brightly lit device on the dashboard that would single me out as a tourist from a mile away. Google Maps on my phone should work just as well.
A dead-end street that only exists in the virtual world
It did actually work relatively well. I made a few mistakes here and there and there was a bit of hassle placing my smartphone in the car, but I always got where I needed to go. For short distances, I tried to memorise the route beforehand: after the BP petrol station, there are three streets that branch off to the left, and I need to take the fourth. Very simple, actually.
Apart from the fact that a small cul-de-sac showing up on Google Maps didn’t exist on the real road network. Since I reached my destination anyway, I didn't pay much attention to the error. Until I stumbled across the term trap street on the internet.
Trap Street isn’t a new song from the hip-hop subgenre of the same name; it’s the term for deliberately incorrect streets on graphic maps or in digital geodata. Huh? Shouldn’t maps guide us rather than disorient us? Yes, that’s why trap streets are actually always dead ends or secluded walkways.
An invented place becomes real
However, Rand McNally’s attorneys assured them the place was real, which was true. In the 1930s, an Irish emigrant opened «Agloe Fishing Lodge» there, presumably because he had seen the name on the Lindberg and Alpers map, as they were free at many gas stations at the time. The name then took root over the next few years with the opening of a small shop and a mention in a New York Times travelogue. Meanwhile, Agloe has disappeared once again.
There are few other examples of trap streets and paper towns, as cartographers understandably keep a low profile. It was only in 2005 that a spokesperson for the «Geographer’s AZ Street Atlas Company» confirmed to the BBC that there were at least 100 fictitious streets on their London map. The Greek road atlas of Athens is one of the few examples in which thieves are explicitly warned that the maps include false roads.
Maps as a military tool
Despite the remote risk of suddenly only being able to get within 100 metres of my destination, I will use a built-in sat nav for my next holiday. It doesn’t go into sleep mode, nor is it dependent on mobile data. Also, I can see its display properly, as opposed to the phone screen that’s somewhere in the centre console.
My life in a nutshell? On a quest to broaden my horizon. I love discovering and learning new skills and I see a chance to experience something new in everything – be it travelling, reading, cooking, movies or DIY.
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