Non-Existent Listings in MM

[Chet Chatsworth]

Hi there, 

I have experienced problems with MapMaker being fully 'synched' with the data in Google Places. I have tried to edit an unclaimed business listing from Places in MapMaker but when searching for that listing in MapMaker (by business name, adddress, telephone number, etc.) it would not appear at all. I understand not all data with MapMaker and Places would be "fully  synched" because it is a new product however, I was wondering if anyone else has encountered this? If so, do you have any suggestions about getting around this?

If I can find a couple of examples I will share them. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance for your help.

-Chet

[Flash]

Looking forward to examples.

 

I did not realize that Places was still considered a new product.

[Flash]

I didn't thinks so, but he so states in his question.

[Flash]

I believe he's referring to Map Maker... I keep hearing from Places people that this "new" product is screwing up Places because we don't have set procedures and such yet.  I don't think they realize that Map Maker is older than Hotspot, which was they precursor to Places.

[Chet Chatsworth]

I am definitely not referring to Places as a new product... that's been around for years guys! I was referring to MM as being a new product. I will try getting you some examples today... thanks in advance for the help.

[Flash]

MM is older than Places, and used in more countries.  Personally, I created my first POI in MM 2 years and 8 months ago.  A few months later Venessa introduced herself in a new blog as the moderator for the new product HotSpot, which eventually became Places.

[Chet Chatsworth]

Oh really?! Wow, excuse my ignorance. My apologies, that is good to know, thanks for the insight :)

Flash, on a separate note, do you mind if I ask how did you get to "Google Reviewer" status? I was just wondering if it was a certain amount of reviews, edits, etc? Or something different. Like always, thanks for the insight.

[Chet Chatsworth]

Ok, I found an example. I cannot find this Places listing in MM:

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?q=miller+%26+miller+milwaukee&hl=en&cid=9906563580459555666

However, if you search by the primary number on the Place Page the listing with James L. Miller will appear.

The address looks correct and it should be the listing in Places but then I click the "details" link to access the listing I am directed to the MM listing:

http://www.google.com/mapmaker?iwloc=0_0&gw=39&fid=9801268328098334725:4980162680286657396&dtab=overview&ll=42.887974,-88.006155&spn=0.963912,2.345581&t=k&z=9&lyt=large_map&hyaw=85.36867525309769

Notice here that the primary phone number I searched for from the Places listing actually appears in MM as the Fax Number. Also, the address format differs once inside the MM listing itself from what was displayed in the MM search results.

Now, with doctors and lawyers Google states that Places allows for a firm listing and an individual attorney/practitioner place page. Therefore, this leads me to believe the firm listing I am looking for is not in MM as this is the attorney listing.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

On Thursday, April 19, 2012 10:21:30 AM UTC-5, Flash wrote:

[Flash]

Starting by just using your Places link, I found it quite quickly in Map Maker.  My method was to use the Edit -> Select a Place and click where it should be.  One of the choices presented to me was http://www.google.com/mapmaker?gw=39&fid=0x8805199d74968805:0x451d17925a24bb74.  I opened it, and then compared it's edit history to the Places edit history.  They were a perfect match, so it is the same POI.

 

Looking closer in Map Maker, I can see that there is a past edit that explains the difference.  There is no author listed, so this appears to have been sent over from Places.  The edit is large, but the important part is:

 

Changed on Jun 2, 2011 11:01am

Name
Deleted:  Miller & Miller (English)
Added:  Miller James L (English)
Added:  James L. Miller (English, type: Primary)
Deleted:  Miller & Miller Law, LLC (English, type: Primary)

[Flash]

Oops, published too quick.

 

What I was going to add is that at our level we will never know for sure what has happened; but from experience and from this history, it appears to me that the edit was made in Places, that it fully published out to Maps, but then for some reason Places never changed.  You can see in the Places edit history that each edit is labelled as being for James L. Miller and not Miller & Miller.  This seems to be a Places issue, not Maps or Map Maker.  I do see what seems to be a "war" going on in the edit history; editing it back and forth between Miller & Miller info and James L. Miller; it is possible that Places merged two POIs; they are known for doing that and only they can fix it.

[Moid]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the informative discussion. As for the searchability, regardless of the primary number being listed as the fax number in MM, its the only number which is listed on the Places page. 

Although we are currently working to improve the sync between data on MM and places, I suggest you to report this problem on the Places forum.

@ blissfulight, Flash - Thanks for pitching in with your inputs. 

[Chet Chatsworth]

Hey Flash,

Thanks for all of your help, you have taught me a lot. I have used your same tactics but cannot find this listing in MM:

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=10784932717894801744

I tried searching by number, firm name, address, etc. But I cannot find it.

I can find the listing with their updated address here:

 http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=1508788541799192136

There is no trace of that listing anywhere in MM. Thanks in advance for your help, like always I truly appreciate it.

[Chet Chatsworth]

Hi blissfulight,

Thanks for your reply. At first, that's what I thought when searching for this listing. However, these listings are the exact same, if you take the MM link you will see both links you provided lead to the following, same link:

http://www.google.com/mapmaker?iwloc=0_0&gw=39&fid=9681883175304812275:17248150803614949189&dtab=overview&ll=29.56981,-98.477365&spn=0.000888,0.001566&z=20&lyt=large_map&hll=45.519207,-122.679145&hyaw=4.6577832085489925

This link leads to the only listing of the Mysti Murphy Law Firm on MM. Thus, why I am trying to determine why the other one isn't showing in MM. Does that make sense?

Thanks for your help, I truly appreciate it.

On Wednesday, April 25, 2012 1:05:48 PM UTC-5, blissfulight wrote:

The first:  

Mysti Murphy Law Firm

The second:  

Mysti Murphy Law Firm

[Geoffrey Perez]

Um, it's because he actually did paste the exact same link for both (check the fid in the URL: 0x865cf5737cdfd6f3:0xef5dbdc571d65f45).

Abort, Retry, Fail?

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Thanks for using Google Map Maker! =)

[Flash]

Sorry for not replying sooner, I'm travelling heavily this week for work.

On Wednesday, 25 April 2012 10:59:46 UTC-7, Chet Chatsworth wrote:

I have used your same tactics but cannot find this listing in MM:

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=10784932717894801744

 

My question for you would be, where on Maps did you find that link?  I can't find it be searching for Misti Murphy Law Firm, I can't find it be searching for the old address, and I can't find it by zooming in on the address.  From what I can tell, it's non-existent on Map Maker because it's non-existent on Maps.  Are you perhaps using a bookmark?

[Chet Chatsworth]

Hi Flash,

No worries, thanks for your help, I truly appreciate it. I am getting this listing by just doing a simple search by the business name as shown in the attached photo below (No bookmark or anything of that nature):

It is indeed very existent in Maps, are you using Google's US site for search? Could that have any effect on it?

[Chet Chatsworth]

Thank you for the insight blissfulight, this is what I will end up doing but for example's sake I just want to know if anyone else has been coming across situations like this as I am seeing it more frequently. I'm looking for insight as to why this is happening and if anyone knows of tactics I can utilize to prevent it moving forward. At the very least maybe bring awareness to others and MM itself to get this issue fixed.

Like always, thanks for the feedback.

On Thursday, April 26, 2012 5:28:26 AM UTC-5, blissfulight wrote:

http://g.co/maps/7fgjm

http://www.google.com/mapmaker?gw=39&fid=0x865cf5737cdfd6f3:0xef5dbdc571d65f45

_____________________________________________________________________________

http://g.co/maps/xx75u

http://www.google.com/mapmaker?gw=39&fid=0x865cf573633a8789:0xef5dbdc571d65f45

Slight variation:   37cdfd6f3 vs. 3633a8789.  They're both presumably the same MM page, which is linked to two different Place pages.  Unusual, but not uncommon.  Simply use Report a problem on the Place to mark the duplicate you want to zap, and supply the short link to the other.  

I recovered the MM URL directly from each Place page.  

[Flash]

I see Bliss found them for you.  I was too sleepy last night when looking at this, I didn't try both names of the POI in Maps; a search for "Mysti Murphy Law Firm" was only bringing up the one POI in Maps.

I'm sure you've noticed by now that when you look at the histories in Places, it only goes back so far.  What I can see when I look at the two Places pages you posted yesterday is that they furthest they go back is to two edits that are identical in both histories, showing they were at one time one POI/Places entry.  The edits are:

Changed on Mar 27, 2012 1:12am

Approved

Mysti Murphy, Attorney at Law:

Changed on Mar 5, 2012 11:45pm

Approved

Name

Added:

Law Firm of Mysti Murphy (English)

Additional Categories

Added:

Attorneys

After that they then have different histories.

I think what we've shown is that all the Maps entries are available in Map Maker; you just might have to search hard, just as you might have to search hard to find them in Maps.  The source of the errors in trying to find two related POIs is that Places for some reason split them when they shouldn't have been, and then fed them into Maps.  The error seems to start when a name change is done, and Maps creates a new POI with the new name and keeps the old one.  Further showing that it is messed up is the fact that the name of the new POI does not match it's name in the history (each edit starts with the POIs name), which is probably why searches are difficult.  These aren't Map Maker issues, however; this is happening in Places and we won't be able to give you any insight as to why it is happening here.

The next step is to report one of those two POIs as a duplicate.  That should lead to them being merged.

[Chet Chatsworth]

Thank you so much for looking into this! I really appreciate your help and insight. I am working on utilizing the tactic with the ClaimUrl piece and am finding troubles using it with this listing:

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=6219758164960430149

When I perform the search I receive the claimURL I get the following:

After I add the 6219758164960430149 to the end of the URL you provided ( http://www.google.com/mapmaker?gw=39&fid=) I receive the error "Badly formatted FeatureID"

Am I doing something wrong here? If I search for the listing and pull it up on mapmaker I get the following link: http://www.google.com/mapmaker?gw=90&cid=6219758164960430149

The only difference in the links that I notice is the text (gw=39&fid vs. gw=90&cid). Is there something I'm missing here? I'd really love to use this method to verify and cross check my listings from MM and Places.

As always thank you soooo much for the help!


On Thursday, April 26, 2012 3:16:45 PM UTC-5, blissfulight wrote:

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=9107836787853469517

http://www.google.com/mapmaker?gw=39&fid=0x89b0788512cd17e3:0x6eda3daef6346962

__________________________________________

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=13118143703632190889

https://www.google.com/mapmaker?gw=39&fid=0x89b0788512cd17e3:0x96da1d7c361e1674

I had to open it for editing to create it as a new POI in MM.  

__________________________________________

Right click anywhere on Place page, View Source, find:  lbcClaimUrl, look for letter/number combo to the left of search term (example:  0x89b0788512cd17e3:0x6eda3daef6346962), plug into this URL:  http://www.google.com/mapmaker?gw=39&fid= so it reads, http://www.google.com/mapmaker?gw=39&fid=0x89b0788512cd17e3:0x6eda3daef6346962.  

On Apr 26, 2012, at 1:06 PM, General Map Maker on behalf of Chet Chatsworth wrote:

Hi All,

Here is another example for you: Weisberg & Weisberg PLLC.

This Places listing is not in MM: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=9107836787853469517

This Places listing: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=13118143703632190889 is in MM right here: https://www.google.com/mapmaker?iwloc=0_0&gw=90&cid=4661965107415897242&dtab=overview&ll=37.080431,-76.466153&spn=0.006514,0.012531&z=17&lyt=large_map&hll=37.08185,-76.466115&hyaw=195.88608934900344

Or could you please show me where in MM this Places listing (http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=9107836787853469517) is?

Thanks!

On Wednesday, April 18, 2012 4:41:27 PM UTC-5, Chet Chatsworth wrote:

Hi there, 

I have experienced problems with MapMaker being fully 'synched' with the data in Google Places. I have tried to edit an unclaimed business listing from Places in MapMaker but when searching for that listing in MapMaker (by business name, adddress, telephone number, etc.) it would not appear at all. I understand not all data with MapMaker and Places would be "fully  synched" because it is a new product however, I was wondering if anyone else has encountered this? If so, do you have any suggestions about getting around this?

If I can find a couple of examples I will share them. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance for your help.

-Chet

[Chet Chatsworth]

Thank you so much for the help Flash, I will report this in Places. I have gained so much insight from both you and blissful, I truly appreciate your help. Thanks again!

[CptnJack]

Now that Places has changed to +Local, and "Show all edits" is no longer available on listings (unless I'm missing something), is there any difference in the process of identifying a listing in Map Maker?  CID's are a thing of the past, so is the ID number that appears in the URL of the +Local pages (plus.google.com/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) in the source code of Map Maker listings?

[Flash]

The CID is still in the Google+ Local code.