Tuesday, July 15. 2008

Times Change: No More Fake Streets in Rand McNally Maps

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."

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Why yes, Adena -- and there are smarter ways to go about adding those Easter eggs, without actually corrupting the data.

#1 Daniel (Link) on 2008-07-16 02:40 (Reply)

I wonder how many copyright infringement cases there have been over the years that have been settled because of a trap street.

#2 wislse on 2008-07-16 08:55 (Reply)

A few companies tried, but eventually it was ruled by a high court that you can't copyright map content, only the appearance. So these imaginary roads became obsolete by the early 00's. Trust me, Rand and Thomas weren't the only ones doing it. My production days at Rand in the 90's involved scatterings of made-up pond names on maps, that was my thing.

#2.1 xmapper on 2008-07-16 09:34 (Reply)

Now we just need to get Rand McNally to actually make Thomas Brothers data more spatially accurate. The roads are way off from the aerials up in Santa Clarita in places. TB used to be the only game in town but now TeleAtlas has passed them by.

#3 Caitlin (Link) on 2008-07-16 11:18 (Reply)

Maybe Rand McNally is done inserting trap streets, but today's digital map players are still inserting a trap here and there. This game is still being played in navigation services and online maps.

#4 jon on 2008-07-28 12:50 (Reply)

The OS in the UK used map traps, or trap streets to win a 20m pound settlement in 2001.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap_street

Open Street Map calls them copyright easter eggs.
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Copyright_Easter_Eggs

Also at Map Room
http://www.mcwetboy.net/maproom/2005/11/copyright_traps.php

#5 Kevin on 2008-07-29 07:51 (Reply)

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In reply to	[ Top level ]#1: Daniel on 2008-07-16 02:40 #2: wislse on 2008-07-16 08:55   #2.1: xmapper on 2008-07-16 09:34 #3: Caitlin on 2008-07-16 11:18 #4: jon on 2008-07-28 12:50 #5: Kevin on 2008-07-29 07:51
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