Where Are You, Google?

It's been nearly a month since the Smith-9 Sts subway station reopened, restoring a vital link to southern Carroll Gardens and Red Hook. Unfortunately, you wouldn't know that if you checked the world's most popular mapping program, Google Maps. This surprises me; Google is very good with its transit applications, offering real-time data in countless cities (including the IRT lines in NYC) and a comprehensive data layer showing transit lines and bus stops. It's not as robust in New York as in, say, San Francisco or Portland (there, even the bus lines are shown on the map), but it's generally accurate and up-to-date.

That is what makes their failure a problem. By becoming the market leader and taking upon itself the mantle of transit expert, Google is also making a promise to the public: we will not let you down. When we go to Google for directions, there is an expectation that it will accurately reflect every line and every stop available. It's especially distressing to be let down in an economically distressed area such as Red Hook. For the past month, businesses that were battered by Hurricane Sandy and cut off from the world by the two year closure of Smith-9 Sts have been accessible again - and anyone using Google has been left unaware. To them, the nearest access point is still at Carroll St or 4 Av-9 St, or a bus ride on the B57 or B61. We can only wonder how many people have skipped out on a meal on lower Smith St or a venture into Red Hook for want of better information.

Of course, we can't blame Google for our own failures to search elsewhere. But the service's ubiquity also reveals out own vulnerabilities: without accurate information, we're flying blind.