Remove wrong place

Google Maps tips & tricks
1

Hi everyone,

I am trying to help someone else. I can’t post a picture of it with the “suggest an edit” option as I’ve never been there, here’s the story:

This lighthouse is located in a private road:

HQ8X+FX Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough Town, ME, United States

People go there expecting this lighthouse which is an actual historical landmark:

JQFR+6R Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough Town, ME, United States

It seems as if some people have uploaded their pictures of the actual landmark to the wrong location, making it even more difficult for people to realize they are heading to the wrong location. (the most prominent picture is of the same place).

Is there any way we can remove it since it’s on a private property and misleading as it’s not the landmark people expect?

Here’s the story from the person I am trying to help:

"I try to flag incorrect reviews and photos but it would be a full time job. The problem is this…

There’s two lighthouses in my neighborhood. One of which is disabled and one that is still active. Both are on private property… one of them on a private road/driveway. The active one is called “Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse”. Cape Elizabeth being the town name. The park is called Fort Williams or Portland headlight and it is also located in Cape Elizabeth. It’s a gorgeous place to visit and hosts millions of visitors every year.

Problem is that tourists don’t know the name of it so they search “Lighthouse Cape Elizabeth”. It’s a verbatim hit on the lighthouses in my neighborhood. Sot they come here thinking its a majestic park and start treating it as such. A lot of police interactions have resulted from people … well… I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they were acting like they would in a park - that had no parking or restrooms.

Either way, it’s getting to be a problem. We had a family pet run over in the neighborhood last year and we have kids running around playing on their bikes … a lot of us feel that its only a matter of time before something bad happens.

The only solution I can think of is to remove the lighthouse in our neighborhood as a POI. You can go search for it yourself and you can tell that about half of the reviews are for Fort Williams/Portland Headlight.

We finally got the west lighthouse removed as a POI but we can’t seem to get the eastern one removed - probably because it has so many reviews on it now."

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2

Dear @EduardoCE

In these particular cases where private persons are affected with their private property by Google Maps, there is only one way forward and that is to escalate the case to the appropriate Google team.

A Google Moderator, like @MortenSI , can facilitate this for us or alternatively you repost your story on the Google Maps Community Forum where a volunteer Expert can escalate your case.

Not only will the Google team be able to analyze the situation and take the necessary desirable action, it is my understanding that they can also put prevention measures in place to prevent members of the public to add/edit the place again.

Please keep us posted on the outcome and tag me personally, so we can all learn from your experience. Thank you!

Warm regards,

JeroenM

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3

Thanks for reaching out @EduardoCE and thank you @JeroenM for the tag!

I would like a bit more information on these two POI’s before I can go further.

When I look the up on Google Maps I get Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse and Portland Head Lighthouse, the latter having by far the most reviews.

Please confirm which one you believe is the correct POI which people are visiting and which one you think should be removed from Google Maps.

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4

Hi @MortenSI

Thank you for looking into this.

Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse is the private one. If you sort the ratings by lowest, you’ll see neighbors complaining and tourists looking for Portland Head Lighthouse but complaining the road is private and can’t get close to the lighthouse.

It seems like people are searching for “lighthouse at Cape Elizabeth (the town name)” hoping to find the landmark (Portland Head Lighthouse). But since the private one is named after the town, they get directed there instead.

Therefore, removing and flagging “Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse” from being re-added, should solve the issue. Tourists will find the proper landmark and neighbors will not be inconvenienced.

Thank you.

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5

Thanks for clarifying @EduardoCE .

I noticed that the private lighthouse has been claimed and I’m wondering if it has been so by the property owner. In this case a solution could be for whoever claimed it, to change the opening hours to “permanently closed”.

My concern about removing the POI completely is that the listing itself is correct and has the correct name. The issue seems to be that visitors get confused because they don’t know there is a second lighthouse open to the public.

We will look into this matter and update you once we have new information.

1 Like
6

Thank you.

I have asked this person to talk to the property owner and find out if it’s him who claimed it and mark it as permanently closed.

I will also provide an update if they get back to me.

Thanks again.

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