Google Maps Seems To Be Having Trouble Locating Brooklyn
Well, here’s a weird glitch that you may or may not have run into problems with: Google Maps’ weird insistence that 5th Avenue (and, most likely, other locations in Brooklyn, too) is actually located in Manhattan.
A Reddit user posted this screenshot last night of a search for “5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY” that pinpointed a spot on 5th Ave. squarely in the middle of Manhattan. Anecdotally, this kind of thing has also been happening quite a bit on my phone’s maps feature ever since I downloaded the iOS7 update (it’s told me to go somewhere in an entirely different state at least half a dozen times), but anyway, one commenter points out that this seems to only be a problem if you write out the search as “Brooklyn, NY” as opposed to simply “Brooklyn.” A little odd given that specificity usually helps with this stuff. So what does it all mean? Probably not much in terms of fundamental inter-borough disrespect, but sort of a lot in terms of one minor (but potentially disastrous) programming glitch. Just be sure to double check any directions given to you by either machines or humans, if that wasn’t something you were in the habit of doing already. Nobody wants to accidentally end up in Midtown.
Follow Virginia K. Smith on Twitter @vksmith.