By Amy O’Hair
[UPDATE 29 Jan 2025: We’re back on the map! The label for Sunnyside has now been returned to Google Maps. It’s in a slightly different position than before, but otherwise all correct. We will likely never know what occasioned the removal last year. The restoration is down to a Sunnysider who generously stepped up to help and was in the right place to make it happen. ]
The inescapable, ubiquitous Google Maps predominates online mapping tools. It has become the go-to source of navigational and geographical information. The presence or absence of a label or marker on the map influences public perception. It purports to employ official government data to create labels and designations.
How is it holding up its mandate to be reliable, historically grounded, and reflective of local communities?
Unfortunately, some basic facts of San Francisco’s geography and neighborhoods have become twisted or erased in the gears of its vast machine. Names do matter, not least because of the history that they represent. In recent years, controversies have erupted around Google Maps’ invention of ahistorical “new” neighborhoods, such as the furor that circled around the “East Cut” in the South of Market district. Even the New York Times covered this kerfuffle.
But other arrogations of history and geography by Google have gone unremarked—like the recent erasure of the label “Sunnyside” from Google Maps. Other nearby neighborhoods like Miraloma Park and Mission Terrace have also been affected.
Let’s look at the south-central area of San Francisco, at the center of which lies Sunnyside. There are several changes and omissions in the area that become obvious by comparing data from the San Francisco Planning Department with what is found on Google Maps.
Back to the Source
First, the map from the Planning Department, which is found through their tool, SFFind. Major neighborhoods are labeled, like Sunnyside (below). The boundaries for any given neighborhood can be mapped by choosing it in the drop-down menu. Continue reading “Inventions and Erasures: Google Maps Remakes or Unmakes Your Neighborhood”
