May 3rd, 2008 Brian Herzog
One of thing I love about my job is the absurd way unlikely resources sometimes need to be cobbled together to answer a question.
A patron called the desk asking for the phone number of a laundromat/cleaners in town. She knew it was just down the street from the library, and I pass it every day, but neither one of us could remember the name.
It was lunch time at the library, so there are no coworkers around to ask. I checked the yellow pages under laundromat, cleaners and dry cleaners, but the only businesses listed were not at the address we’re looking for. I tried a few internet searches for “laundromat chelmsford” and the like, but had no immediate luck.
If there was another person to cover the desk, I would have just walked up the street and called her back with the information. But it was this thought - seeing the sign from the street - that gave me the brilliant idea of trying Google Street View.
I typed the Library’s address into Google Maps, switched over to Street View, and then walked the little yellow man up the block to the laundromat. From this view, I could make out the name of the business (actually, I got lucky and their van was parked in the lot), and from there I could look them up in the white pages.
The patron was not only happy to get the phone number, but amazed at hearing about Street View for the first time. She was so interested that we stayed on the phone for another five minutes while I explained what it was, how it worked, and how she could get to it on her own.
Interesting postscript to this story:
The Chelmsford Library is located on an “island” between two one-way streets. However, this is poorly marked, and I sometimes see non-local cars going the wrong direction. Apparently, whoever was driving the Google photo car is also not from around here. By rotating the Street View down to see the car itself, you can tell by the side mirrors that it’s driving the wrong direction - but best of all, you can follow the car’s hasty U-turn in the library staff parking lot. Happily this did not cause an accident, but I’m surprised Google publishes photographic evidence of its drivers breaking traffic laws.
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May 15th, 2007 Brian Herzog
When I upload photos to flickr, I always try to place them on the map, if appropriate. When I started a flickr account for my library, I noticed that there was a problem with the map.
I work at the library in the town of Chelmsford, MA, which is situated right next door to the city of Lowell, MA. Lowell is much bigger, and if it had a “metro area,” Chelmsford would be a part of it.
However, after having lived her for a couple years, I know that the two communities are very different. High school rivalries, traffic problems - heck, I even hear Chelmsford library patrons complain about Lowell patrons and the Lowell library. Community loyalty here runs as deep as the Merrimack River.
So, I was sort of startled to see flickr claiming that all the photos mapped for the library’s account (which were taken in Chelmsford) were listed by flickr as “Taken in Lowell, Massachusetts” (as circled in red in the photo above).
When placing photos on their map, flickr encourages you to place it as locally as possible. Because of that, I was surprised to see their local locations that inaccurate. I wrote to flickr, explaining the situation and asking if they could be more accurate with their map. Here’s the response I received (from two different flickr support techs on the same day, two days after I sent my message):
Hi Brian,
We are aware that there are some locations that might be reflecting an adjacent city or town, or an incorrect place name. In some cases a place name might reflect a town name that is no longer in use. Flickr uses map data from Yahoo! which in turn is provided by third party providers (most online maps you see are sourced this way).
We are developing methods to allow you, the knowledgeable member, to be able to contribute to local adjustments. We don’t have a particular date in mind when we would be able to offer this, but please understand it is something we hope to provide in the very near future.
Regards
Not exactly the “hi, we’re flickr, and we can do anything” kind of response I was hoping for, but I do understand the issue. I guess I just have to hold on until this feature becomes available, and explain to our patrons why it looks like the Chelmsford Library is actually in the city next door.
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