Address woes: Google maps lags behind official county maps

Nov. 19—CANTON — An ambulance delay mistakenly attributed to the ongoing woes many in Canton still have with new addresses issued last year has shed light on where the mixups are.

Walter Emmerling passed out after a serve coughing incident on Nov. 6. Unbeknownst to him, Emmerling had blood clots in his lungs, the same condition that claimed the life of his father when he was just 3. He feared he could have died during the 18 minutes he estimated it took for the ambulance to arrive from a station just about four to five minutes away.

The 911 call record, however, shows that help arrived in just eight minutes, lower than the average call time from dispatch-to-onscene of 9:35 minutes.

Still, there was confusion at the dispatch center after Emmerling's girlfriend was unable to provide the specific address where an ambulance was needed.

"When we played the recording and looked at the times, the ambulance response time was pretty good, but there was a bit of a delay because the female who called in had no idea what his address was," explained Joey Webb, Haywood County's chief information officer.

Webb oversaw the 911 upgrade that incorporated the new Canton addresses, a change that happened about a year ago.

"It took dispatchers quite a bit of time asking her questions. The way we finally found him was by looking at her cell phone GPS," Webb said about the initial delay in getting an ambulance to Emmerling's house.

Emmerling initially thought the delay was due to an ongoing issue he is having with his new address assignment, one that switched from 130 N. Main St., to 782 N. Main St. in Canton.

Canton addresses were reassigned last year to eliminate duplicate addresses and streets, instute a more systematic approach to assigning addresses, and align addresses with a recent 911 upgrade. But from Google maps to power bills, the old addresses are still in play.

Case in point: for this year's Canton Holiday Tour of Homes, both new addresses and old addresses had to be listed for each home so tour-goers could find them.

Emmerling said he's tried multiple times to change the address on his Duke Power bill, which he receives electronically, but Duke claims the address doesn't exist.

"If I had a problem with my electricity, they wouldn't be able to find me because they are saying 782 doesn't exist," he said. "There is no resolution because they won't change it. Then there are still problems with the postal service."

Complaints to Canton town hall elicited grumpy responses saying everything works as it is supposed to, Emmerling said.

Canton Town Manager Nick Scheuer said the town takes all complaints seriously and is working with partners on resolving address complaints.

"The E-911 addressing update process (and subsequent updates to services like Google Maps and logistics providers like UPS and Amazon) was routed through Haywood County and the town of Canton was responsible for informing residents of the change, as well as mandating physical address number changes on residences and businesses," Scheuer said.

What's going on?

While there could well be challenges finding some of the new addresses that were changed in Canton, Webb has a fairly simple explanation.

The county maps and addresses — the ones used by all emergency service providers across the county — are updated in live time and are absolutely spot on.

When an address for newly built house is added to the system, it goes live within minutes, allowing emergency providers to find it, Webb said.

Where problems come in is when individuals use other navigation tools or online maps, companies that don't always promptly update their system.

Webb said the main issue some seem to be having is with Google maps.

"The real issue is getting (Google) to update addresses and road names," Webb said. "You can't find anybody to call. I finally found a portal that's supposed to be designed for government entities to submit officials maps. I submitted them in August, and they said we should start seeing changes in a few days. There are still no changes."

When the county finally got a response from Google, Webb was able to ask if he'd stumbled on the right process and if everything was done as required.

"They said everything was perfect and suggested we submit changes quarterly," he added.

Webb said he found where individuals can directly report changes to Google, but isn't sure if they have any better success than the county has had.

One business who has been extremely receptive to working with the county addressing information is Amazon, Webb said.

"There was an issue with Amazon last year, and I got in touch with a supervisor at a delivery facility," Webb explained. "I sent them a list of our changes and they ran with it. We're the ones who issue addresses, but it's really interesting that most people don't come to us to get them."

Webb said he isn't sure where companies providing online map services are getting their maps, but is certainly not from the county, which has the latest and correct information.

The good news is that the county maps are available for free and can be found at Maps.haywoodcountync.gov where there's both a desktop and mobile version that can be used online or downloaded.