iHCPL: The Next Generation: Maps #31: Have Map, Will Travel

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I’ll confess right up front. I did things out of order again. Last week I edited a Google map. This week I watched the Google Create a Map Tutorial. Here’s what I did in a state of either blissful ignorance or intuitively following the directions on the site.

My original purpose for poking about in Google Maps was to follow up on some customer feedback that I’d received by postcard. I was trying to get a satellite picture with enough resolution to see if the flowerbeds were really in as bad a shape as a customer said they were. The resolution wasn’t good enough to properly diagnose the health of the flowers or the shrubbery. A human agent will be sent to investigate the flora. But, while I was there I noticed the marker for the branch was a block closer to FM 1960 than the branch was, so I dragged the marker over to the branch driveway. Then I labeled it Atascocita Branch Library.

But now the plot thickens. After feeling smug about having done so much of the exercise in advance, I clicked on iStar’s link to HCPL Locations on one map. There was Atascocita, but my carefully relocated marker had moved back to FM 1960. Looking back to the Search Results on the left, I realized that there were two listings, one for “Atascocita Library” and one for “Atascocita Branch Library.” Same address, same phone number, but they had two listings and two markers, one about a block farther up Pinehurst Trails Drive than the others.

[Warning: library humor below]
Gentle Reader, I was shocked. My cataloger’s heart was chilled to the core. I was the victim of an unpremeditated folksonomy. It was tagging run amok. Horrified, I decided to try a more general search term on the main Google Maps page to see if innocent customers might be led astray.

At first I keyed in just “Atascocita” and got "Atascocita, Uninc Harris County, TX." It was on 1960 just past Kings Parkway. At this point I got distracted because I started to wonder what a Uninc was and if might be married to an Auntic, or perhaps he might be working as a security guard at a harem. Then I had a moment of enlightenment! Perhaps Uninc might be a nickname for Unincorporated Place. That relieved my mind somewhat, but I still thought it was careless of someone to leave it out in the middle of a busy street like that. I mean, zoom in as close as you can and you can see the oncoming traffic! As soon as the library opens I'm going to call them and get the number of Uninc Protective Services. [Just kidding]

Then I modified my search term to “Atascocita Public Library” and that returned:

Results 1-10 of about 3,949 for Public Library near Atascocita, Uninc Harris County, TX
Categories: Libraries Public, School Public

Atascocita Library - more info »
19520 Pinehurst Trail Dr, Humble, TX - (281) 812-2162

Kingwood Library - more info »
4102 Rustic Woods Dr, Kingwood, TX - (281) 360-6804
Atascocita Branch Library - more info »
19520 Pinehurst Trails Drive Humble, TX 77346 - (281) 812-2162

The library I was searching for turning up twice in the top 3. My fears of misdirected customers vanished. I shall sleep better tonight. :)