10 ms·

Hi, I work on maps spam. I was wondering if you could dig up a link to the maps business, and include a rough idea of when this occurred. Thanks!

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
edent 8y ago
I've tried to report this map spam before - details at https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2018/04/hundreds-of-thousands-of-spam-listings-on-google-my-maps/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2018/04/hundreds-of-thousands-of-sp... Happy to be contacted if you'd like more information.
- jpatokal 8y ago
  Your blog post appears to be conflating Google Maps with MyMaps. MyMaps lets people create & publish their own maps with random POIs: for example, here's a map of nice wineries around Melbourne. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mtgpe7JU9OtHUUdvG_A6Uq0eTpQ&usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mtgpe7JU9OtHUUdvG_A6Uq0eTp... However, these do not show up in the "main" Google Maps, and adding spam to them isn't any more effective than adding spam to a random website. Disclaimer: I used to work at Google Maps.
  - edent 8y ago
    I mean, the url for these spam entries starts "Google.com/maps" so I think it is pretty reasonable to call this Google Maps spam. I don't remember how I found those specific ones, but using Google Maps for Android finds some pretty similar entries. Perhaps you could pass that on to your old team?
Symbiote 8y ago
The UK phone number plan allocates the prefix 09… (or +44 9…) to premium rate numbers[1]. A change to an 09 number should be a red flag for the edit — I'd expect very, very few businesses to use a premium rate number as their main contact number. In fact, it seems many categories of business are banned from using them [2]. Some other European countries have similar prefix-based number allocation systems. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_numbers_in_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_numbers_in_the_Unite... [2] http://www.fairtelecoms.org.uk/service-numbers-084-087-09-and-118.html http://www.fairtelecoms.org.uk/service-numbers-084-087-09-an...
lwhi 8y ago
Sure, send me a mail and I'll do my best.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

edent 8y ago

I've tried to report this map spam before - details at https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2018/04/hundreds-of-thousands-of-spam-listings-on-google-my-maps/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2018/04/hundreds-of-thousands-of-sp... Happy to be contacted if you'd like more information.

jpatokal 8y ago
Your blog post appears to be conflating Google Maps with MyMaps. MyMaps lets people create & publish their own maps with random POIs: for example, here's a map of nice wineries around Melbourne. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mtgpe7JU9OtHUUdvG_A6Uq0eTpQ&usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mtgpe7JU9OtHUUdvG_A6Uq0eTp... However, these do not show up in the "main" Google Maps, and adding spam to them isn't any more effective than adding spam to a random website. Disclaimer: I used to work at Google Maps.
- edent 8y ago
  I mean, the url for these spam entries starts "Google.com/maps" so I think it is pretty reasonable to call this Google Maps spam. I don't remember how I found those specific ones, but using Google Maps for Android finds some pretty similar entries. Perhaps you could pass that on to your old team?

Symbiote 8y ago

The UK phone number plan allocates the prefix 09… (or +44 9…) to premium rate numbers[1]. A change to an 09 number should be a red flag for the edit — I'd expect very, very few businesses to use a premium rate number as their main contact number. In fact, it seems many categories of business are banned from using them [2]. Some other European countries have similar prefix-based number allocation systems. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_numbers_in_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_numbers_in_the_Unite... [2] http://www.fairtelecoms.org.uk/service-numbers-084-087-09-and-118.html http://www.fairtelecoms.org.uk/service-numbers-084-087-09-an...

lwhi 8y ago

Sure, send me a mail and I'll do my best.