You can't get there from here
I've been bothered by something for quite a while now. Whenever I go look at the Weather Channel's radar page for our area, it shows this:
There's only one problem - more than half of the towns shown on the map above don't exist, and some that do aren't shown. Here is an accurate map from Google that covers the same area:
The towns on the first map aren't just tiny little burgs, nor are they historical site names from what I can tell - they are literally fictitious. The weird thing is the Weather Channel's map is generated by Bing according to the logos in the lower right hand corner. But if I go directly to Bing's map for the area, it shows only the correct towns, too:
There's something kind of "Twilight Zone" about seeing a map of your area and not recognizing most of the names.
6 comments:
That is really weird, Jim. I got curious, so I looked up TWC map for my own area, and yes, there are a lot of places I've never heard of (and I've lived here 35 years). However, when I Google Map (search) those places, they sure enough come up. I think they are things like neighborhood names, historical names, landmarks, major roads, and things like that.
It is really strange though...I have no idea why all those unrecognizable places are on the map. You think they would stick to cities and towns.
I've looked for some and haven't found them, or they are located elsewhere. For ex., there IS a Nashville, MO, but it is in the SW corner of the state (not far from Joplin, in fact). And then what's strange is that they keep some of those (possibly historical) names but then don't show some existing small towns.
Anyway, like you, I thought it was weird.
About a third to half I recognize as places "near here" that I've never been quite sure where they were, about a quarter are places I actually know where they are, and of what's left, I looked up a couple. Stonesport is historical, like you thought, most were right where it says, just tiny as heck.
As for Nashville, MO, the one you see on Google Maps is unincorporated and a near ghost town. There is another Nashville, MO referenced right where this map shows on State Highway N in Boone County, and where Google maps shows Sapp, MO. I'd say it's likely that all of these are where it says they are, just with no data to tell them it's relevant enough to put on the map and that it still exists and hasn't changed its name.
As for sourcing Bing, the streets are marked identically to Bing's, while the highways and cities are not, and of course the radar image is overlaid as well. I'd say the cities are part of their radar map.
What causes this sort of thing is probably the dead man's record issue. People will notify you that they exist when they want something, so you get a record for -some- people. When they die, though, nobody tells you, so you either leave them in forever or you delete them based on estimated lifespan. Towns, however, don't have limited lifespans, so when they unincorporate and no one bothers to notify you, they'd exist on your map for a long time. And no company is going to waste time inquiring if a town of 150 people still exists.
Matt,
Which would make sense, except it doesn't show some decently-sized small towns that DO exist now. Note the absence of New Bloomfield, for ex.
It's just trying to show you what the area will look like when tornado season is over.
Tom,
That's it! :)
Post a Comment