Major Victory for Battersea & Clapham - Googlemaps corrected

posted 13 Dec 2011, 11:48 by Love Battersea
Major Victory for Battersea & for Clapham
- Googlemaps corrected -

TomTom comes up trumps and gives an early Christmas present to Battersea...and to Clapham!

In January 2010, we started our campaign to get Googlemaps to correct its data and put Clapham back home where it is, and not in the middle of Battersea on top of our town centre Clapham Junction, which takes its name from the famous railway station.

See the story here:

Battersea calls on Google to correct its maps - The SW11tch Back to Battersea Campaign writes an open letter to Google Co-Founder Larry Page asking for his help to correct a big mistake on Google Maps

Since then we have been in touch with Google and the company that provides their map data, TeleAtlas and its parent company TomTom. We wrote to the Chief Executive of TomTom, Mr Harold Goddijn and continued to speak with people at Google. We got a reply back from TomTom that was very encouraging:

See story:

Here is a reminder of what TomTom told us:

I have reported this issue to our map team but have also sent them the links to the dedicated site you provided in the hope that the corrections needed are fully understood. I have been informed that this map correction has now been logged for investigation and also has been marked for urgent attention. Our map team works closely with TeleAtlas as although Tom Tom have taken the company over they still remain two separate departments at this stage and so map issues need to also be recognised by them as they have access to the raw map data.

Our map team here have informed me that they will discuss this issue with our TeleAtlas and report back the findings and hopefully a time frame on when the corrections will be implemented. We update and release new map versions every quarter so when we have implemented a change it can take 1 or 2 map updates before we can see the change being released to our customers.

I will keep this case on research with myself and so when I have been updated on the developments I will inform you accordingly. I can assure you that Tom Tom are on board with your community's campaign to correct our maps to show SW11 as Battersea and give accuracy, clarity and identity back to the area.


In October we got an encouraging update from one of TomTom's experts:

Thanks for your valuable feedback to our maps!


I can confirm our department has looked into this issue carefully and the relevant edits have been made in the UK database to correct the below issues.  

 

We found that in our database the centre of settlement names had been moved previously to the correct locations and now edits have been made to the underlying naming structure of areas (such as Index Areas) to reflect the reality of this area.  All dependant features in this area have been checked and updated where necessary.

 

The updates are effective in our first next internal release. Unfortunately this will only result in an update on the TomTom navigation maps that are released in mid May 2012.

 

Kind regards,

Wilfried Coppens

Expert Geographic Sourcing Analyst
Content Production Western Europe

Mr Coppens has (to borrow a favourite phrase of Boris Johnson, Mayor of London) 'Played a blinder' and delivered a change to Googlemaps almost 6 months earlier than we expected!

So here is the evidence for lovers of Battersea and of Clapham to feast their eyes on - remember that Clapham hadn't even been on the map in the place it is located:


Googlemaps corrected:
Monday 12th December 2011



Closer shot:



...and to remind us what existed before:



Thanks to many people:

There are thanks to offer many people and we'd run out of space of we tried to mention all.

So firstly, a big thank you to all those people from Battersea that helped us campaign for this change and made frequent contact with Google and TeleAtlas.

Thanks most of all to Mr Harold Goddijn, CEO of TomTom for having ensured that we finally got action, and to his colleagues, particularly Mr Wilfried Coppens.

We also should acknowledge the help of one of our London MEPs, Syed Kamal, who responded to our early campaign news by contacting people he knew at Google and making sure the problem was on their radar screens. Our London Assembly Member, Richard Tracey has been actively supportive throughout, helping to ensure that the Mayor of London Boris Johnson was kept abreast of news and gave us his support. Also, our local MP Jane Ellison.

But most of all it was the many people who love Battersea who provided us with the encouragement to keep plugging away at the giant Google corporation and its map providers, TomTom/TeleAtlas.

Happy Christmas - we're back on the map!


Comments