Genesee College Advises Avoid Google Maps

[Linda Buquet]

Genesee Community College is advising people to avoid using Google Maps after fighting for a year to have Google correct their online location which is sending people to their other campus 30 miles away.

I see this happen a lot with Universities and Hospitals.

GCC Advises Web Searchers to AVOID Using Google Maps

BATAVIA, NY (01/27/2014)(readMedia)-- Anyone searching to find directions to Genesee Community College's main campus in Batavia are advised to avoid using the online Google Maps utility. Despite many attempts by the College to have Google correct the problem, Google Maps continues to direct visitors trying to reach GCC's main campus to the College's Albion Campus Center located 30 miles north of Batavia in Orleans County.

"We have contacted Google multiple times to rectify this problem and are continuously told that it takes weeks for their algorithm to correct misguided directions. In addition, Google claims its tech support cannot manually intervene to remedy the problem," said Donna Rae Sutherland, associate director of Marketing Communications. "It's been incredibly frustrating and also rather dangerous. Buses of athletic teams, performing artists and potential students have all gone 60 miles out of their way traveling in haste back down Route 98, which is often very blustery with poor visibility during the winter months."

The problem has been an ongoing for approximately a year with short periods of time when Google Maps accurately listed the Batavia Campus, but currently the right side panel posts a map and information to the Albion Campus Center without even mentioning the main campus is in Batavia.

They should hire Mike Blumenthal who could probably get this resolved.

 

[Dustybones]

Interesting. I live about 30 minutes east of Batavia..It wouldn't surprise me if they are using in-house IT to try and fix this.

 

[johncrenshaw]

I agree with Dusty about in-house IT. There is something about non-local-pros trying to fix issues that just doesn't seem to work a lot of times.

We've fixed problems in 2 weeks that clients were struggling with for 6 months before they hired us.

 

[Dino]

I agree, John. Sometimes we - and especially Google - forget what it's like to be someone who doesn't deal with this stuff on a daily basis. Yes, Google Places has come a long, long way in regard to customer support assistance, but that doesn't help SMB's, or in this case colleges.

 

[Dave]

hm. Some time around 2007, 08, or 09 I was assisting a school with a very similar problem. G maps was directing people to a wrong location.

We had correspondence in the G Places forum on the issue. Of course one can't see it now as google has hidden all of those conversations.

Campuses, hospitals, sometimes museums have similar problems. The problems have been in existence for as long as there has been google maps. Among other issues it requires some communications. With different campuses, different buildings, different departments, etc. it requires a certain higher level of communications with G Maps to get it right at times.

Mostly google doesn't do higher levels of communications. So the problems remain. Google mostly ignores them.

At times they fix them when public awareness is raised in the press and google gets embarrassed.

Good for the school. Maybe that press release will spur more reaction from google.
When Google does respond these things tend to get fixed. Google is far more aware of the history of these issues than each institution that individually faces them.

 

[Dave]

I went back through my emails. I dealt with a school dealing with similar (but not exactly the same issues) having a wrong address/location show up in google maps on the first page of google.com (now the pac) starting in late 2007 and really started focusing on it in early 2008. Miriam Ellis wrote about this issue as it affected hospitals back in November 2008 here: SEO Igloo Blog ? My Experience Using Google Local During A Medical Emergency

Its now 6 years later. Google has a long history in confronting these issues. This kind of issue has occurred many times. Each time an institution faces it...its a first for the institution, but google has confronted the issue numerous times.

Its too bad, that with all that experience behind them, they can't respond to Genesee College on an even mildly responsive basis.