I learned about those fake streets being inserted into maps so that publishers could track those who copied their data. But apparently that practice is coming to an end. Per Chris Nichols in Los Angeles magazine (quoted in the
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin) Rand McNally has stopped that practice.
"The map makers claim to have stopped this practice, but they were doing it at least into the 1980s. Crafty cartographers slipped imaginary roads called map traps into the guide so that the company had solid proof in copyright infringement cases. (A fake La Taza Drive in Upland is in old editions.)
"Rand McNally bought Thomas Bros. nearly a decade ago, and chief cartographer Joel Minster tells me that today the company would never purposely insert any map errors. So if you get lost, don't blame it on them."
Well, at least software developers still add in Easter Eggs...
