Does anyone know a contact person inside Google Maps? Major map error not being addressed for St Helens, Tasmania

Gravy on 25/11/2019 - 15:44
Last edited 25/11/2019 - 15:44

Long shot, and perhaps a bit of an odd question for this forum but I'm wondering if anyone here has a contact that may be involved with Google Maps? I've been attempting to get in touch unsuccessfully with Google regarding a problem with the town of St Helens on the east coast of Tasmania (it's where they had the JJJ one night stand last year and also where I grew up back in the 70's - 80's).

Basically the town is one of the larger centres on the NE Coast of Tasmania (somewhere around 2000 people I think) but does not appear on Google maps until you zoom right in. A museum at the town even appears on the map before the town name is visible and Google maps also incorrectly names the town Saint Helens instead of the preferred name of "St Helens". Other surrounding villages that are much much smaller (sub 200 residents) appear more prominent on the map before St Helens.

I've tried to contact Google maps several times via their map error reporting page but it's not really set up to report errors of this type (seems to be designed to report street errors, not whole town issues) and I've had no response or change to the map over the last couple of years.

This would likely be affecting the tourism of the town to some degree as people use Google maps when planning holidays or whilst travelling and if the town is not being shown as a major centre I am sure many people would bypass it.

I've contacted Tourism Tasmania and the local council for the town but neither have had any luck either.

Any ideas or contacts within Google?

There's sure to be a "map of Tasmania" joke in here somewhere :)

Travel

Comments

  • spackbace on 25/11/2019 - 15:45
    +8

    It's Tasmania, they just don't care… who does?!

    /s

    • Gravy on 25/11/2019 - 16:31
      +10

      My parasitic twin.

  • Bluberry on 25/11/2019 - 15:47
    -3

    Where is Tasmania again ?? :)

    • Gravy on 25/11/2019 - 15:51
      +37

      1986

    • FireRunner on 25/11/2019 - 18:38
      +1

      Why is Tasmania?

      • Gravy on 25/11/2019 - 22:27
        +6

        42

        • Kangal on 27/11/2019 - 16:37

          Tasmania is How is Tasmania?

          • Gravy on 27/11/2019 - 18:52

            @Kangal: Is this a line from Tommy Wiseau's "The Room" or something?

    • cameldownunder on 27/11/2019 - 11:46
      +1

      Where good cheese and good beer is coming from. Not to mention the lakes filled with trouts.

  • Eeples on 25/11/2019 - 15:53
    +22

    Please supply MS diagram of your map of Tassie.

    • Gravy on 25/11/2019 - 15:58
      +76

      Wife is also a child of the 70's, will get her to send hers.
      Edit: This is the best I could do on short notice… note: Not to scale.

      ▼

    • JIMB0 on 26/11/2019 - 08:05
      +4

      Maps of Tassie are becoming extinct.

      • Gravy on 26/11/2019 - 10:23
        +11

        Some old growth forests are still hanging in there.

  • kipps on 25/11/2019 - 15:55
    +3

    What exactly is the major error?

    • Gravy on 25/11/2019 - 16:04
      +4

      Town name is not showing on map until zoomed to street level, incorrectly indicates size of town. Surrounding villages of less than 1/10 population are showing before St Helens appears.

      Town name also incorrect, should be "St Helens", not "Saint Helens". Google maps error reporting provides no mechanism to report errors of this type. I have the feeling that the entire issue stems from the error with the town name, as one area of the town also shows "St Helens" in smaller type. I'm thinking that there was a correction at some stage and something went wrong resulting in decreased visibility.

      Let's say you were travelling in Tassie and deciding where to stop for lunch or the night and you were unable to see a large town on the map, you would likely bypass it thinking there were no facilities.

      To put it in perspective and scale it up, it's a bit like if a map of NSW showed Coffs Harbour on the zoomed out map before Sydney was visible. Tiny satellite villages around St Helens are showing before the name of St Helens itself.

      • kipps on 25/11/2019 - 20:42
        +13

        I don’t see a major error. People aren’t being misdirected. There is no failure to include a place name. You’ve got grievances with labels on zoom levels and “St” vs “Saint”. None of this is major. If I’m in a small town I’m going to do my research about where to go. Not trust labels on differing levels of zoom in Maps.

        • Gravy on 25/11/2019 - 22:22
          +6

          They aren't being misdirected, but they are not being directed either. That's the main issue.

          There's no failure to include a place name, but there is failure to visually show the importance of the town in relation to the surrounding region. It is one of the few towns in North East Tasmania large enough to have a district hospital and K-12 high school for instance.

          If you owned a tourism based business in a town that had incorrect visibility on Google maps you might think differently about the importance of the issue.

          The problem may even have a small effect on property values if potential buyers from outside the area cannot easily identify the town as a major centre on the map. ie: "I'm not moving there, it hardly even shows up on Google Maps."

          You mention that "if I'm in a small town" then you'll research where to go. The issue is that you may not be there in the first place if you can't easily see it on the map, unless you already know about the town.

            • Gravy on 26/11/2019 - 09:51
              +3

              @tabitha731: Jokes aside, I think you'll find that Tasmania's tourism pull is rocketing over the last few years, particularly driven by international visitors. Tassie's international visitor growth rate has outstripped all other states by a long shot over the last few years.

              Ecotourism and Adventure tourism infrastructure such as extensive mountain bike trails are attracting large numbers of tourists to towns that were previously floundering. St Helens itself has just opened a Mountain bike trail network this month and I expect it will have quite an impact on tourism in the town, similar to what has happened in Derby Tasmania.

              It's not all roses though, as that increased tourism is placing additional strain on infrastructure and natural amenities. Cradle mountain for instance is a good example.

          • Ozpit on 26/11/2019 - 09:50
            +1

            @Gravy: This is certainly not unique to St Helens. Occasionally when looking for a particular place on Google maps (and other free map apps, such as Apple Maps) I often find much smaller towns or lesser known landmarks show up first when zooming in. Worse, they sometimes are shown on one map app and not at all on another.

            • Gravy on 26/11/2019 - 10:21
              +1

              @Ozpit: Agreed. Google need to up their game a bit when it comes to their mechanism for reporting these types of issues as their present reporting system doesn't really accommodate this type of error.

  • Amaris on 25/11/2019 - 15:58
    +2

    Other surrounding villages that are much much smaller (sub 200 residents) appear more prominent on the map before St Helens.

    So you're jealous?

    • Gravy on 25/11/2019 - 16:04
      +3

      a little bit yeah :)

  • GG57 on 25/11/2019 - 16:08
    +1

    Be careful what you wish for.
    I understand the impact on tourism-related businesses, but sometimes it is nice to keep hold of a little piece of paradise just for the locals (and by that I mean everyone in Tassie).

    • Gravy on 25/11/2019 - 16:18
      +1

      Ha yeah… I hear you. Although I think it's about to be "put on the map" so to speak, with some very cool Mountain Bike trails just opening. The town was falling in population a few years back if I remember correctly so it will be good to see it get a boost I think. I haven't lived there for 30 years, though heading back for a school reunion this summer.

  • websterp on 25/11/2019 - 16:15
    +1

    Have you tried this?

    • Gravy on 25/11/2019 - 16:21
      +1

      Thanks, but I have made about 3 submissions over the last couple of years using that reporting facility. Unfortunately it doesn't actually allow for errors of this type to be reported and I've had no luck getting a response or having it fixed. :(

  • ESEMCE on 25/11/2019 - 16:45
    +5

    Looks like Google Maps thinks it's a Region (like a Province) not a Town.

    • Gravy on 25/11/2019 - 16:53

      Hmmm… interesting, you could be on to something. The town name on the map is capitalised for some reason as SAINT HELENS. No other towns seem to get this same capitalisation.

      • Gina Rinehart on 27/11/2019 - 16:47
        +1

        There is also a smaller "St Helens" too, to the left of the SAINT HELENS.

      • Mallard on 27/11/2019 - 17:13
        +1

        There is a St Helens to the east over the ovals. Maybe that's the town name and the SAINT HELENS is the region

    • Gravy on 25/11/2019 - 19:19

      I've noticed a few areas in Sydney also have capitalised names MACDONALDTOWN and GORE HILL for instance. Not sure why that is.

      • kerfuffle on 25/11/2019 - 22:14
        +2

        They’re both localities according to Wikipedia

  • Gravy on 25/11/2019 - 17:36
    +3

    It seems that Google maps has a community page so I've posted up a message there about the issue. Still interested in hearing if anyone has a Google contact that could help out though. Would be great to help the town get this issue fixed.

    https://support.google.com/maps/thread/21083870?hl=en

  • Downvoter on 25/11/2019 - 17:37
    +6

    Google maps will definitely make this their number one priority

    • Gravy on 25/11/2019 - 17:52

      Given they haven’t given a crap about responding or fixing the issue in two years then I reckon you may be on the money. Hopefully I can do a little better than Tourism Tasmania or the local council this time around though.

  • qwerty on 25/11/2019 - 18:07
    +4

    If you want more popularity to the town start adding photospheres off all touristy things and then submitting them in ingress and soon pokemon go to create pokestops

  • DarthAntz on 25/11/2019 - 18:10
    +1

    Would be good to get Tasmania recognised again. It's been a long time since yahoo serious

    • theHMASfriendship on 25/11/2019 - 18:42

      Since hoo?

    • Gravy on 25/11/2019 - 18:56

      Funnily enough a good mate of mine's father was an extra on that movie, although it was filmed around Nelson Bay area, NSW.

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 25/11/2019 - 18:28

    Town name also incorrect, should be "St Helens", not "Saint Helens".

    Google Maps says St Helens for me

    https://imgur.com/a/b9h0lta

    Is this a PEBKAC error?

    • Gravy on 25/11/2019 - 19:17

      Odd that you can't see the incorrect main town name of SAINT HELENS in caps, maybe try zooming in or out a little and see if it appears. "St Helens" is also marked on my map but towards north west of town centre. Neither of these names appear until street level zoom though.

      Not PEBKAC, you can see what I'm seeing on my desktop view at https://support.google.com/maps/thread/21083870?hl=en

      Tried it on Google Maps app for Android and iOS and I'm seeing the same thing (both St Helens and SAINT HELENS are shown).

      What are you viewing on?

      • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 25/11/2019 - 19:19

        I can see it now. Only appears as a specific zoom level. Follow up answer below.

  • monarocv8 on 25/11/2019 - 18:58
    +2

    I get St Helens in top left, and SAINT HELENS bottom right. Very weird…

    https://imgur.com/jlsRUGq

    • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 25/11/2019 - 19:18

      Yep I zoomed in and out and can see that now. Follow up post below.

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 25/11/2019 - 19:16

    Ok, fairly sure I've worked out what it is.

    This guy uploaded a photo registered and tagged as a district/neighbourhood/landmark at some point in 2016. Try reporting the photo itself and the "SAINT HELENS" may disappear. Probably not. This is Google we're talking about after all.

    Profile
    Photo

    Your issue is a non-issue tho. "St Helens" is correctly reported, boundaries are there, fully searchable. Nobody is "bypassing" it because they can't find it. The "SAINT HELENS" only appears if you zoom a specific distance from the bridge.

    • Gravy on 25/11/2019 - 19:33

      Hmmm… that's interesting although surely it is not that easy to tag an area in maps just by uploading a photo, otherwise anyone could just call a region "ArseTown" or something equally dodgy and it would show up on everyone's Google maps.

      I disagree that its a non issue though. If you are planning a holiday or driving and looking for major centres along your route at which to stop, if the town name doesn't appear at higher altitude zoom levels then you are likely to think there is nothing there and bypass the town or book accommodation/dine elsewhere even if you do end up driving through the town itself.

      • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 25/11/2019 - 19:54

        higher altitude zoom levels

        That's unrelated to this.

        If you want to increase the town or local businesses exposure then that's a completely different conversation.

        You'd have to, ironically sorry, ask Google but things like search requests, clicks, GPS, analytics all come into play. You can easily tell that the only place "google'd" for in St Helens is the "St Helens History Room" followed by "Tidal Waters Resort St Helens". If there's nothing there, people aren't searching it, people aren't visiting it, if there are few businesses, then it "ranks" lower.

        • Gravy on 25/11/2019 - 20:21

          Yeah no doubt things like that come into play, but this appears to be a much deeper issue and is likely related to the dual name that Google has given the town. St Helens is one of the largest towns on the NE corner of Tasmania. When the town name is not visible until you get to street level zoom when other tiny villages have their town names displayed at high altitude zoom, it indicates that something isn't right.

      • abb on 27/11/2019 - 16:57
        +1

        Similar thing happens for St Peters / SAINT PETERS in Sydney. "St Peters" gives the little 'quick facts' bit, but 'SAINT PETERS' just has one picture.

        Interestingly, Google is able to get it right for Sydney's "St Leonards" (there is no SAINT LEONARDS on the map, but if you type it in, you get directed to St Leonards as expected). This is possibly because it's pretty close to the Google (Maps) office and Google employees can probably even afford to live there ;)

        • kiitos on 27/11/2019 - 22:43

          That's interesting. I could have sworn that St Ives used to be sorely it on Google maps too, but it's St now too.

        • Gravy on 28/11/2019 - 05:39

          That is interesting, thanks for the info.

    • rompastompa on 25/11/2019 - 20:39
      +1

      Yep, OP needs to upload some photos to get it on the map. Like this, Mayuge Township is located on Unnamed Road, Mayuge, Uganda.

      • Gravy on 26/11/2019 - 10:00

        The town already has lots of photos attached to it on Google maps, although many are incorrectly tagged and are from regions well outside the town itself.

  • pat25d on 25/11/2019 - 20:15
    +1

    I believe that all caps labels are for neighbourhoods or areas that are not real suburbs.

    Here's an example in Brisbane where there are 2 of these in the same suburb:
    https://maps.app.goo.gl/FE5GEtpULsRyhLBe6

    Ekibin and Weller's Hill are not real suburbs but labels that locals use to describe the area.

    Not sure how you can get yours fixed.

    • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 25/11/2019 - 20:24

      Weller's Hill is real. Pretty sure I've been there for some reason as it rings a bell.

      https://auspost.com.au/postcode/4121

      You're right about Ekibin tho.

      "Suburban Locality"

    • Gravy on 25/11/2019 - 20:26

      Yeah, I found a couple in Sydney when I was looking around for other examples, MACDONALDTOWN and GORE HILL for instance. I would make sense that some people would put Saint Helens in a search if they weren't local and that probably helps with searches, as that's how it's pronounced (well sort of… Snelens if you're a real local… ha).

  • grog on 25/11/2019 - 20:38

    Bing maps shows your town no problem, i see tully street and the race track? is very clear on satellite view

    Google also calls the southern ocean "great australian bight"

    useless

    • Gravy on 25/11/2019 - 21:12

      Yep. Likewise Apple maps, Mapquest, openstreetmaps all show St Helens as a significant town at higher altitude zoom level, Google Maps is the odd man out.

  • haimrevolution on 26/11/2019 - 07:54

    Cause I always go on to google maps and look at the towns and go thats where I’m going never to destination reviews or holiday sites.

    • Gravy on 26/11/2019 - 10:16
      +1

      Yep, agreed that there are many different ways that people pick destinations. Visitors on a more unorganised road trip may be more likely to use maps than your method when deciding where to pull up for the night.

    • crentist on 27/11/2019 - 17:55
      +1

      Google maps markings are a valid way to compare smaller areas you aren’t so familiar with in lesser known regions. Works to pick a good outer suburb to explore in an unfamiliar part of the city, for instance.

      I’ve used this to pick suburbs to live in foreign cities. Ended up in cool areas that no tourist would visit or hear about, but were pretty lively with locals.

  • Hirolol on 26/11/2019 - 08:33

    Just keep submitting every day
    They will do it eventually

    • Gravy on 26/11/2019 - 10:07

      Yeah I haven't got that level of dedication, I tried to hand the task over to Tourism Tasmania and the local council at St Helens but they were also unsuccessful.

  • b0rnwithabeard on 26/11/2019 - 08:39

    lol, they even have Binalong before St Helens.

    Also, if you're going to use the name so much, at least spell it the phonetic way: 'Snellens.

    • Gravy on 26/11/2019 - 10:05

      Already onto that… search for "Snelens" on this page :)

      Guessing you are a bit familiar with the area then?

      • b0rnwithabeard on 27/11/2019 - 09:24

        pretty much every school holiday and long weekend for my entire childhood was spent at Binalong. I haven't been in a while - please tell me Major's Munchies is still in business

        • Gravy on 27/11/2019 - 12:42
          +1

          I haven't been back in 6 years but I noticed on a launch day video of the St Helens MTB tracks a few days ago that Major's appeared in the background. https://www.facebook.com/StHelensMTB/

          I'm not sure when it was established but it has to be very early 80's at least as it was there when I was living there. Nothing changes very fast in my old hometown. Going back there for a school reunion this summer.

    • Gravy on 26/11/2019 - 11:20

      South Mount Cameron gets high visibility than St Helens and it has a population of 15 people vs 2070. :(

  • OzHunterNSW on 26/11/2019 - 10:45
    -1

    Is Tasmania on the map?

  • onetwothreefour on 26/11/2019 - 12:44
    -3

    Let it go?

    Why do you care so much about this? I understand you grew up there, and tourism and house prices etc but why do you care so much about it if you no longer live there? As others have said above, it's not a big deal.

    • Gravy on 26/11/2019 - 13:14
      +4

      It is not a big deal for some others as they have no interest in the town. It was important enough for Tourism Tasmania, East Coast Tas Tourism and the local council there to all make attempts to contact Google to have it fixed after I let them know about the issue, all of which failed.

      I want to see the town start to flourish as I spent the first 15 years or so of my life there, I still have a brother and family there with a cafe business and my parents still own land, so there is some vested interest for me yes but ultimately I'm just trying to fix an error that shouldn't be this hard to fix. It's become a bit of a personal challenge for me I guess.

      On the upside, a Google Map "Platinum product expert" at the Google Community forum has just informed me that they can see the issue now and have contacted Google regarding the issue on my behalf so perhaps I'll get some joy this time.

  • logistics on 27/11/2019 - 02:22
    +1

    Good luck getting Google to help you.

    A few months back I tried to get in touch to report a 3rd party android app that was stealing user credentials and for them to inform impected customers.

    App was eventualy pulled from the app store but they refused to inform the customers. Apparently they only handle billing. WTF???

  • HeWhoKnows on 27/11/2019 - 07:36

    Dont worry about it.

    I get delivery people on motor bikes coming down to the end of my cul-de-sac all the time to deliver to a property which is set well back in the next street.

    The funny thing is that the end of my street is a building site and when they come at night its dark and nobody is around.

    You should see them walking around in circles trying to work out where to go.

    Now if they bothered to read the street signs or listen to the street names they would know they are in the wrong street.

    Would also help if they spoke english!!!

    So funny to watch

  • stampella on 27/11/2019 - 07:51
    +2

    Just a bit of info that might as well be stale by now (~4 years old).
    I haven't worked on loads of map data, but when I did there were multiple factors affecting what went in Maps through their automated crawlers.
    For major entities (on US soil, where the map is the most accurate), even the entities websites and third-parties websites were cross-referenced by manual curators through multiple escalation queues.
    For small businesses/townships, especially in non-US countries…well, most of it was independent submissions and crawlings of other publicly accessible sources.

    I can tell you that Wikipedia was a big source, but this was starting to be exploited by "SEO experts" when I left the project. They might have implemented safeguards or bumped it down in the sources priority list.
    It's still a worthy approach. The current Wikipedia page for St Helens could certainly be improved, especially if the town is as relevant as you say.
    Anything of historical, cultural or environmental significance should be both on Wikipedia and submitted to Google Maps. There are a few spots there already…just keep adding the important stuff.
    Editing Wikipedia is free and, as long as the info is factual and referenced, is not the worst gesture you could make. Worst case scenario you will help one of the kids in the well respected K-12 St Helens School when doing his/her humanities research on the town.

    Note that I do not see any major problem with Maps…you can search the town fine typing "St Helens, Tas" or similar keys on anything using Google Maps services.
    The only gripe I agree on is that the name "St Helens" does not appear until you zoom in quite a bit. And this, yes, might affect the number of people deciding to add it to their trip when checking the map. I have no idea why is that, I was not in the least involved in the graphical aspect of things.
    But I don't plan my trips (especially in Tasmania) judging by the number of inhabitants of a place…when you say 2000 inhabitants I read "2k potential d-heads".

    If you are interested in bettering your community, put online info, photos and georeferenced data of anything that is of significance. The secrets of G algorithms and actual tourism and researches will do the rest.
    Just do not expect it to become automagically as bright as New York City at night on the satellite photos.

    If you are interested only in your business, there are plenty of marketing strategies that could increase the number of your customers.

    On a side note, I see you have Doggys Bay close by…if nobody is exploiting that as a marketing opportunity you should. It's definitely calling for a particular niche. Maybe even two niches!

    Source: a few years as team leader in a project curating the entire G database.

    • Gravy on 27/11/2019 - 09:03

      A very interesting read thankyou. In this case I think that there is a Google issue with the town's visibility that extends past the usual methods determining relevance/importance. I am guessing this issue may somehow relate to the way that St Helens receives dual naming on the map ie: St Helens + SAINT HELENS.

      I submitted an image to the Google communities forum and marked population figures on the map for St Helens and surrounding villages to better illustrate that there is a very obvious issue with visibility at higher altitude viewing. You can see this image directly at https://storage.googleapis.com/support-forums-api/attachment…

      A village of 15 people appears on the map before St Helens for instance. St Helens has over 2000 population and the town name only appears once you start to see street names. Yep, you can see the names of several streets in the town before the town name itself is even visible.

      A "Platinum Product Expert" at the Google Maps community forum has escalated the issue with Google so hopefully it gets noticed this time. See https://support.google.com/maps/thread/21083870?hl=en

      Doggys Bay… ha… I have done a little boating in that particular little bay area many years ago but never knew it was called that.

  • 91rs on 27/11/2019 - 08:34
    -7

    First thing that comes to mind which is well played out is, OK Boomer.
    The entitlement that you must correct someone at Google to get what you want and all that. Got some land you want to increase in value before you sell it on and retire probably?

    Now there are a few things that will cause what you see, however there is more than likely nothing you can do as it looks like the standard map view.
    If you search St Helens you get the boundary for the area center on screen, When I looked the label when zoomed in is fine and isn't all caps nor is it Saint.
    The description pulls from wiki and looks fine + isn't googles problem.
    Zoom levels for labels - that's a Google thing, this would be linked to town population at greater zoom levels as to what is or isn't important, POI's will have a hierarchy for categories which mean that some things will show ahead of others for various reasons as you zoom in or out. You will see things like national parks, beaches or golf courses over say accommodation (as you need to be zoomed in more), then things like hospitals, schools, servo's etc. These can also depend on users related search history and what Google thinks is relevant to show the user so not everyone will always see the same thing.
    Then throw in things like check in's, reviews or even paid SEO and that will change again.
    Some of the names nearby are also joint name of town and geographic feature or point of interest related to a bay, beach or whatever other specific tourist search item so don't expect them to be handled the same.
    You also don't want a cluttered or messy map with too many things or things that aren't that important being shown unnecessarily, its a fine balance.

    I think the council and tourism bodies should be paying more attention to the Chinese buy up of Tassie than the label on a map for a town with a few people in it.
    Tasmania is a destination holiday for pretty much everyone, while you may want to encourage tourism (double edged sword) changing town label names at zoom levels wont do that. Things like attractions, places to visit, things to see and do, places with good food, good accommodation all without a big underlying meth problem (rural Australia in general) help. Then social media and websites (fancy ones) with SEO help.
    People often travel around for several days or weeks to see stuff, if you (your town, its things to see or do) can't be found as something worth seeing in the first 2-3 pages of google (or on one of those links from the first couple pages) then you're done.
    The big part would be getting people on to the island first! We (Australia) don't do tourism well compared to other countries and that's part of the downfall.

    In everything you posted you've not even given a single clue as to why anyone would go to that town other than "its got more people than other towns nearby", address those issues if you want to see more people visit would be my suggestion.

    • Gravy on 27/11/2019 - 09:35
      +2

      Ha… nice one. I'm a X child of the 70's not that it makes any difference to the issue.

      As already mentioned further up this thread, I do have a brother still living in the town with a cafe business that would likely benefit from extra tourism and my parents still own some land in the area but that's really beside the point too. I've lived away from the town and settled in NSW 30 years ago.

      Regarding the zoom level and populations, this is exactly the issue as there is an obvious problem which you can see on the following image I submitted to Google, I added population figures to surrounding villages. https://storage.googleapis.com/support-forums-api/attachment…

      You make some good points about increasing the town's popularity and the chamber of commerce and council there should certainly be doing that. Tassie's international tourism growth is going gangbusters compared to the rest of Australia though, something which few "mainlanders" probably realise. St Helens itself is also just about to start capitalising on the mountain bike adventure tourism industry that has seen other towns in Tassie boom over the last few years. Trails opened there this month which they have invested quite a few million into creating. The town is a hub for accessing plenty of quite amazing natural amenities in the local area. This isn't about trying to sell the positive aspects of the town to Ozbargainers though.

      I think I'm spending too much effort defending my decision to try to do something positive for the town with people who don't see the problem, bit sad really.

      • 91rs on 27/11/2019 - 13:59

        Wow lot of neg love going on there for providing info on how it works.
        Missed the comment where you posted about land but it was a close guess ;) Glad you laughed as others seem upset on your behalf.

        Clearly Google has decided Binalong Bay is more of a tourist destination than St Helens, wonder if the amount of accommodation POIs is part of it or its related to spacing for labels around edge of the island as it does look right if you look at Bridport, Tomahawk, Cape Portland, then the three bays before Scamander. I want to say that the "bay" labels (geographic labels) are their priority.
        Best of luck with them shifting the labels up.
        Like others I think the issue is more of popularity than a name on a map still, go edit the wiki like others have said with the things you just listed.
        You weren't trying to sell it to us, however I was looking from the outside for a justification to change label priority or visibility at zoom level and given the wiki doesn't give any insight to what the town offers (anything significant) and you didn't say hey we're home to the giant whatever it did just sound like someone wanting their town to look more important on a map.

        That comes from someone who works for a map company, not an advertising company like the big G.

        • Gravy on 27/11/2019 - 15:15

          Guessing you got the down votes because you started out your post with some negatively worded assumptions about why I'm trying to get this fixed. I didn't down vote you as I rarely do that even when it's a negative comment against me. I'm certainly not doing this because of a sense of personal entitlement on my behalf though, but I do think the town itself is entitled to be represented properly on Google Maps.

          I understand that a host of different variables go in to determining town label priority but I think something else is causing the problem with this issue. In other words I think it's broken and may not be able to be rectified simply by the methods you mentioned. Once that problem is fixed at Google's end it's up to the town council/tourism board/chamber of commerce etc to go about increasing their online presence.

          I do appreciate your input though.

  • payless69 on 27/11/2019 - 10:34
    +1

    Last "bastion" in the apple island not yet overrun be greenies. Used it many times for the free showers at the wharf. Even the local IGA was something like back again into civilisation. Keep it a secret, just too nice to give it away..

  • MementoMori on 27/11/2019 - 10:34
    +2

    Side note - I'm sure it's a very beautiful part of Australia

  • beefmaster on 27/11/2019 - 11:46

    Just advertise to potential tourist that Google Map have an error and use other map like Nokia Here Map when travelling to Tasmania. Assume Nokia Here Map is correct. That is what a hotel in Iceland did last I went for a Holiday.

    • Gravy on 27/11/2019 - 12:13

      Yeah I've seen businesses advertise the fact that their Google maps listings are incorrect and to ignore them. You also see it on newly formed roads as well (Ignore GPS signs).

      Trying to get this fixed at the root though.

  • picklewizard on 27/11/2019 - 11:50
    +1

    You should ask them for a refund.

    • Gravy on 27/11/2019 - 17:25

      I could ask, but that’s a hell of a lot of personal data they have collected for the last 20 years, where would I store it all? :)

  • pformag on 27/11/2019 - 12:06
    +1

    Trick is to get into contact with someone on the inside.

    There is contact info on each persons profile.

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/lua-cortes-5497b053/

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/ingridtrollope/

    • Gravy on 27/11/2019 - 12:10

      Hey… nice find. Will see if that helps if the Google Maps Community thread I mentioned earlier doesn't end up working out.

      • pformag on 27/11/2019 - 12:12
        +2

        If all else fails. Apply for this job at Google, and change it yourself.

        https://careers.google.com/jobs/results/77893949315785414/

        • Gravy on 27/11/2019 - 12:17

          Ha… love this. I can see the interview process now… "and why do you want to work for Google??"….. "Well I want to make a difference… make changes, well… just one really, then I'll be done."

    • brisdaz on 21/02/2020 - 11:08

      Did you try LinkedIn?

      • brisdaz on 22/02/2020 - 04:56

        Also see https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/people/?facetCurrent…

        Does anyone here have anyone at Google Maps within their LinkedIn network?

        You've tried the appropriate channels over several years without success so maybe it's time to get lateral? The Google Maps community thread doesn't seem to be working after several months neither.

  • geoffs87 on 27/11/2019 - 13:26

    I went to Tasmania once, I think?

    • Gravy on 27/11/2019 - 17:26
      +1

      Tasmania, it’s a state of mind man.

  • fLamous on 27/11/2019 - 14:19
    +1

    Have emailed a mate at Google Maps…. will post what he comes back with.

    • Gravy on 27/11/2019 - 15:22

      Awesome thankyou, that's the spirit. I knew there had to be someone with a friend there. :) Will be interested to hear what they have to say, unless it gets fixed by another team member first and your mate is left wondering why they can't see the issue.

    • Gravy on 04/12/2019 - 10:10

      Hi again, don't suppose you heard back from your mate?

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