Trust, but verify

Recently, I had to get to Bloomingdale's in SoHo area in Manhattan.
I got my iPhone, started Google Maps, and typed "Bloomingdales".
So far, so good. It found couple locations in the vicinity and one of them is correctly listed as 504 Broadway, New York.
However, when zooming in to get street intersection, I found that something was wrong:

It's pointed to NoHo area, and not even Broadway.
Luckily I knew that it was a wrong location, and did not walk there (it would have taken me 1/2 mile off course).

Bing.com was more accurate in displaying the same address.

Typing the exact address to Google maps, finally gave me the correct location.
All well, that ends well - I got to my destination.


It shows once again, that one must not blindly trust the technology, because somewhere, someone might have made a mistake, and that mistake would translate into lost time or some unpleasant situation.
As Ronald Reagan used to say: Trust, but verify.

From Japan to New York

Last night I was toying with Google maps to get directions to a different destinations, and was very surprised when starting point was set to 11 235 4chōme Togawa Choshi, Chiba Prefecture, Japan and end point in Brooklyn, NY, USA.It gave me detailed route on how to get from point A to point B.

Total distance was calculated to be 15,442 km (9,595 mi) and it would take 36 days and 8 hours to go that way.

Google folks have sense of humor.

When looking at turn-by-turn directions, it has suggested to use kayak to cross Pacific Ocean, passing through Hawaii.

Click, to see bigger image.

I have tried Microsoft or Yahoo maps, yet none of them could calculate such a route.