Why are online maps so out of date?

[Slickone]

I can't give the best directions to my house using any of the mapping software online since they're all so far out of date. Near me, they're still showing a road that's been closed for a few years now, and aren't showing the roads I need, which have been there for a few years. This includes google, MSN/live, mapquest, and yahoo. Are there others I can check (that don't just use maps from one of these)?

Why don't they keep these a little more up to date? I've tried emailing at least one, or more, of them in the past, which I guess didn't work. I've also tried emailing mapquest many times about correcting my street name, but they never reply or fix it.

 

[Ika]

because they have to map basically every street in the country?

 

[kamper]

No kidding. You think they have contacts in every single regional office that takes care of roads and they just get reports after every change? More likely they bought a tonne of data from someone who did a one-time, monumental collection job (or a bunch of purchases for different areas) and they only really pay attention to key areas for minor changes. The amount of data these services have access to is stunning and I think it's impressive they're as current as they are.

 

[KoolHonda]

If you know the way better than they do, try a pencil and sheet of paper The only logical reason I can think of is they probably use free government survey data. If you live in the sticks, the info isn't going to be updated very often.

 

[Spacehead]

Not exactly a mapping service, but would TopoZone help?

 

[sonoma1993]

Originally posted by: Slickone
I can't give the best directions to my house using any of the mapping software online since they're all so far out of date. Near me, they're still showing a road that's been closed for a few years now, and aren't showing the roads I need, which have been there for a few years. This includes google, MSN/live, mapquest, and yahoo. Are there others I can check (that don't just use maps from one of these)?

Why don't they keep these a little more up to date? I've tried emailing at least one, or more, of them in the past, which I guess didn't work. I've also tried emailing mapquest many times about correcting my street name, but they never reply or fix it.

It takes time to update maps for about 1,000,000+ different locations across the globe.