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Reminds me of the strategy of map companies, that planted tiny errors or fictional streets in their maps, so that they can identify other map companies, that co
by lagrange77 4y ago
Reminds me of the strategy of map companies, that planted tiny errors or fictional streets in their maps, so that they can identify other map companies, that copied their work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_street https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_street
- aix1 4y agoThe following is only tangentially related, but somewhat interesting. For most of its history the USSR systematically distorted publicly available maps of the country, misplacing or omitting streets and geographical features etc. This was done as a security measure, while accurate maps were classified. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/03/world/soviet-aide-admits-maps-were-faked-for-50-years.html https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/03/world/soviet-aide-admits-... In contrast, the classified maps were remarkably detailed: https://www.wired.com/2015/07/secret-cold-war-maps https://www.wired.com/2015/07/secret-cold-war-maps
- KennyBlanken 4y agoChina has a lot of mapmaking and GPS technology restrictions, present day, for supposedly the same reasons.
- sllabres 4y agoSee e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_geographic_data_in_China#GPS_shift_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_geographic_dat...
- interestica 4y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9Di-UVC-_4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9Di-UVC-_4 "Why Every Map of China is Just Slightly Wrong"
- mhh__ 4y agoSoviet maps of the UK are extremely detailed
- thedanbob 4y agoThere was one of those near my house on our map when I was growing up. I though it was just a weird mistake until years later when I learned about this concept.
- wmwmwm 4y agoI love this story about Agloe, New York - a "copyright trap" that materialised into a real place: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agloe,_New_York https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agloe,_New_York When another map maker put the actual settlement on their maps, the original publishers cried foul, but then discovered Agloe had become real!
- moffkalast 4y ago> Agloe is a fictional hamlet Very fitting, if people weren't sure if it 'be or not be'.
- lalos 4y agoAgloe anagram of legal
- Sohcahtoa82 4y agoAre you sure about that?
- scubbo 4y agoUhh...
- wmwmwm 4y agoActually, I think it was the initials of the original publishers
- joko42 4y agoThe 'l' was embarrassed and curled up into a ball.
- ceejayoz 4y agoAKA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canary_trap https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canary_trap.
- mhh__ 4y agoCompanies that sell things in catalogues also do this
- dbatten 4y agoGoogle still does this! They seem to use some sort of generative neural net to produce fake names, descriptions, and even reviews for the trap locations. You can report the location to Google as "bad data" and they'll delete it, but then a totally different fake location will re-appear in its place a few days later.
- nix0n 4y agoI worked once with a contractor who did not have a physical location for their business. They simply worked out of a minivan which they drove to wherever they were needed. But they pretended, to google, yelp, and probably others, to have a business location.
- ilamont 4y ago"A BBC TV show called Map Man, broadcast in 2005, claimed the London A-Z contains about 100 trap streets." https://londonist.com/2015/11/london-trap-streets https://londonist.com/2015/11/london-trap-streets Tangential: Are A-Z guides still a thing? I still have my old one from many years back when I lived there.