or, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Fear and Loathing at a Public Library Reference Desk



Problems with Flickr’s Map

   May 15th, 2007

flickr screenshotWhen 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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One Response to “Problems with Flickr’s Map”

  1. derek Says:

    yeah, this is really frustrating. i have over 10,000 photos geotagged on flickr and i’ve noticed the exact same thing. and it happens wayyyy more frequently than i would’ve guessed.

    it’s funny when i map photos from the quad cities (iowa/illinois border). all of my photos taken in iowa (across the mississippi river) say they’re from illinois. and the photos taken in illinois say they’re from iowa. what the?

    when i map these same coordinates on a google map – the data is correct. but given that yahoo now owns flickr… i really doubt we’d be fortunate enough to get google maps integrated into flickr…. which is why i plan to use the API to map my own photos on a google map.