Darn! Google maps can be misleading

Need to visit a new spot? Good chances are you will search for it on Google Maps and just go!

The place marked in red used to have a police station. After my edit, it was fixed.

Google maps work great most of the time, but it failed me twice now-

• I needed to go to police station in Bangalore. I searched for police stations near my house, noted address of one. And off I went. When I reached there I could not spot police station immediately. I walked around. No sign. Asked a shop keeper, he points in one direction and tells it is 1 km away. I walked for 2 Km, doh, no police station. A guy around there told me the police station has moved to some other place. Tired as I was, I did not go to this new place, just went back home.
  Roughly 1.5 hours wasted :(
• I had to visit a Airtel store in Delhi.Similar story repeated. Another hour wasted.

The places keep evolving. New places come up, old places go down. Maps does keep up with latest changes, but can never be up to date about everything.

So now you should do 2 things-

• Ask other fellows. Although they can be even more misleading. You can minimize risk of wrong information by asking 2 or more people.
• Now that you ended up permanently closed place, be a nice person, and suggest edit on Google Maps. I did it both time. It goes through peer review before approval.

This makes me realise that Maps is just another social network. We share information, which (for difference) is useful for other people.