5 Places Google Maps Says are NOT in Royal Oak

A lot of folks use Google as a dictionary of sorts. We Google things we are trying to research, right?

Well some Royal Oak residents might be surprised to learn the following five places are in Royal Oak Charter Township, according to Google Maps.

It seems Google mistakenly lists 48067 and 48073 zip codes as belonging to nearby Royal Oak Charter Township, which is actually located just north of Eight Mile and just west of Ferndale. In fact, the zip code for Royal Oak Charter Township is the same as Ferndale – 48220.

Who's Noticed?

Royal Oak Interim City Engineer Matt Callahan noticed the error on his Android phone over a month ago.

“It could be problematic for someone trying to do research on city demographics or finding the correct address of a business — aside from the  fact that is annoyingly incorrect,” Callahan said. “I and several other people have emailed Google Maps to notify them of this error without any response or correction.”

On Royal Oak Patch Facebook users had mixed reactions:

• "Who cares?" wrote Josh Winquist.
• "Says my house is in charter township and I'm at Catalpa and Main —but no (it doesn't bother me), never noticed," wrote Scott Bondy.
• "Bothers me," wrote Marlene Konkoly.

Google's Response

Google spokeswoman Anne Espiritu said Google is committed to providing users with the richest, most up-to-date maps possible.

“We have built our map from a wide range of authoritative sources, ranging from the US Census Bureau to commercial data providers, and have used satellite, aerial, and Street View imagery to help complete the map,” Espiritu said in an email to Royal Oak Patch. “Overall, this provides a very comprehensive and up-to-date map of the US, but we recognize that there may be occasional inaccuracies that could arise from any of those sources.”

Espiritu suggested the Google Map patrons use the "Report a Problem" tool that enables users to directly communicate any updates they think need to be made to Google's maps.  

"We strive to make these changes as quickly as possible," said Espiritu.

In the meantime Wikipedia notes, "(Royal Oak) should not be confused with Royal Oak Charter Township, a separate community located nearby," on its Royal Oak entry.