(Too many) "phantom" roads found in Maps

[ValeriaA]

Hi everyone!

So I’m writing this post to report something I would say is an issue.

I would like to ask you to please read everything carefully until the end of the post, as I will tell step by step how I found it.

I was driving the other day using Maps navigation (which -I’m sorry guys- I honestly don’t like but that’s a topic for another post), and as I was going straight in some streets, as I watched the directions I saw roads that actually don’t exist in reality.

Let me show an example and explain it below:

So if I was driving my car, and looked to the right (where that highlighted street should be) there is actually no street at all. Not even a passage, walking path or anything - just houses or buildings.

The first time I saw this I reported it through the app, but I slowly started noticing that there were a lot of cases like these.

So today I was looking at Maps (which I find a great way of finding errors) and I saw this:

And thought “Really? This can’t happen so often in the map. These must be real streets”. So I figured I could check the satellite mode and see if there were actual streets there or if -again- this was another error.

Bingo! There it was again. Phantom streets everywhere. Of course I took a much closer look to make sure it wasn’t just me being paranoid about incorrect information, but turns out it wasn’t:

There were actually no streets at all in reality.

I have to say that I checked in Moreno city which I know pretty well so I could be sure that this info was accurate. I know that the right thing is to report these in the app, which I have already done with every one of them I could find (+25 probably) but I thought I could talk about it here since it happens too many times.

I have also seen (and reported) some of these in Villa Ballester city so I’m sure it doesn’t happen only in Moreno, probably not only in Argentina.

So this makes me wonder: Where does Google Maps trace the roads from? Are those streets created in the map because the algorithm/AI detects something in the satellite image? If so, how does it know if the satellite image is up to date?

I’ve been focusing a bit in streets and only now realized that there’s still a lot to improve. I have even suggested to create many of them, reported some of them to not exist, and reported some incorrect tracing too. I was surprised to figure that just by going a bit away from the big cities (in my case, Buenos Aires) many errors and incorrect info start to appear.

Have you seen anything similar in your city/country? It would be good to know if this is a general issue.

I’m tagging @BorrisS @PoliMC so some Googler sees it and hopefully it will reach the right person to address this topic.

Thank you very much for reading!

[ValeriaA]

I also have to say that a few of the streets I reported not to exist have been approved pretty quickly (less than 24 hs) so maybe the algorithm is re-checking and learning that there are no streets, or there is a person carefully looking into the topic. So that’s a positive thing to highlight!

[MortenCopenhagen]

@ValeriaA ,

Thanks for spotting and sharing this. It is also great to know that your feedback about these phantom streets is taken seriously.

I haven’t noticed such streets where I use Google Maps.

You may consider to include a link to one or more phantom roads for us to study.

Thanks again.

[ValeriaA]

Hi @MortenCopenhagen

Thank you for the suggestion. Here are the links to some of the phantom streets I could find, hope it helps:

https://goo.gl/maps/Df48YXM9ZWyfAvDQ6

https://goo.gl/maps/eq7XJHSFeC9byQVa6

https://goo.gl/maps/25fZ7dmdaJM4iSkN7

https://goo.gl/maps/ujZNuk26bjSt6zh1A

[C_T]

Interesting findings @ValeriaA

Are the ghost roads internal walkways within the blocks?
Have you tried another navigation app from Google and experienced a similar misleading result?

[ValeriaA]

Great questions @C_T , I’m glad you asked!

I have checked and re-checked and I’m 100% sure those are not walkways within the blocks.

I have just tried with Waze and these false streets actually don’t appear there, so it seems to be a Maps thing… At least for what I’ve seen so far.

Thank you

[MortenCopenhagen]

Hi @ValeriaA ,

Thanks for posting the links. I have a theory on what’s is going on.

I believe these phantom roads are generated automatically. The area has a very high density of buildings. And I believe Google has an algorithm for placing roads automatically to ensure that all people can get to their property from a road. To me it looks like some of the phantom roads are placed where there is some kind of a line of houses.

This one from your second example looks like a legitimate road inside a blok.

But I think we need the kind advice from someone like @Flash to really understand what is going on and how to solve the problem.

Cheers

[davidhyno]

Great findings and great way to report it @ValeriaA !
In addition to what @MortenCopenhagen said I just wanted to add that, maybe,at the time of filing in the municipality of residence the projects of these dwellings were initially marked these “rights of passage”, then not realized for changes of project in progress. So most likely, if Maps takes data from third-party vendors, it reported what the original project foresaw. I found the one you checked once even in a place near my house, but actually it was a right of passage only for residents and non-public.
Good work Valeria!

Have a good day,

David

[Flash]

@ValeriaA , I’ve looked at four of your examples at the beginning of the post. If you look at historical aerials this area was a lot less densely populated 15 years ago and all four turned out to be placed where a long, empty property existed. Likely people whose homes were more in the centre of the block rather than at the street used those properties to get to their homes, and so they mapped the path so that other’s could understand how to get to their homes. As the area was more densely populated the roads/paths were never removed.

[LuigiZ]

Hi @ValeriaA ,

Very interesting spot, thank you for sharing.

I haven’t noticed anything similar in my area so wondering about it.

Thank you @Flash for the useful, and very interesting, explanation.

[BorrisS]

Hello @ValeriaA ,

Thank you for reaching out and raising this issue.

We are going to have a look at it.

[PaulPavlinovich]

We do see things like this here. Locally I know where they came from, the road base here comes from a government agency. Their maps are based on maps submitted by property developers. If the estate doesn’t get finished or the road is dropped then there’s no update mechanism back to the state maps. The map represents what was intended to be built.

I tend to report them as not existing and I’ve had reasonable success with that @ValeriaA

The newer maps are much better and this is reflected in Google Maps too.

I imagine as the technology to scan aerial and satellite imagery for roads improves that these anomalies will vanish over time.

In the mean time its up to us.

Paul

[Amiran]

@ValeriaA

I Also reported same issue before about wrong automatic drawings in Iran based on low quality of satellite images

Auto drawings caused wrong shapes

Even examples I mentioned are still on the map although I reported them for removal.

I Hope Google prepare a suitable solution for this big problem @BorrisS

[Flash]

To be clear, there is no “auto draw” occuring.

[Amiran]

Yes dear @Flash thanks for attention. Seems you’re right. At first glance I thought it is auto drawing but by reading your first reply and checking again I find those could be some old bypass roads that have been drawn by users in the past. But the case I mentioned in the link is not user’s drawing.

[PoliMC]

Hi @ValeriaA ,

The issue is fixed and the changes are already live on Google Maps.

Have a great day!

[ErmesT]

Thank you for this post @ValeriaA

When I read this post, I started to check my area too, and I have found a lot of phantom roads

Funny thing, @PoliMC : I reported some road as “road doesn’t exist” and I got some Not applied (the other still pending) but …

In fact, the Not applied modifications are already live in Maps (the roads are no longer present).

Weird

[Amiran]

Hello dear @ErmesT , It means your reports are live (although got not applied) only after a few days!! This is amazing. Since last year our road reports (except adding a name to the unnamed road) only go pending for months without any result!

[ErmesT]

Oops, @Amiran

Sorry, I didn’t mentioned the time. I reported the roads as “not existing” just three hours ago.

Amazing, isn’t it

[Amiran]

Yes @ErmesT , I just guessed about the time and considered maximum time. 3 hours for road reports is even shocking I assume it is based on the country and because we’ve no Google office in Iran it lasts too long for one report to be reviewed and this is why we still need something like Map Maker RL program at least for such areas.