Google Maps Error Blamed by Demolition Crew Who Tore Down the Wrong House
This story originally appeared on
We’ve seen our share of , but what happened to the owners of a Texas duplex is particularly heartbreaking.
Their house (no, that’s happened, it’s not even the first time ) after it was damaged by a tornado, and the demolition company apparently blames Google Maps for the error. They lived at 7601 Calypso Dr., and as you can see below, on Google Maps it lists the same location for that address as it shows for 7601 Cousteau Dr. — the home a block away that was supposed to be demolished. (At the time of this writing, both and have what appears to be the correct listing for 7601 Cousteau Dr.)

Homeowner Lindsey Diaz told that she had just applied for a builder’s permit to repair and rebuild, before getting a call from her neighbor about what had happened. An employee for , the company behind the teardown, apparently sent her a screenshot showing what Google Maps displays, but so far no one from the company has apologized for the mistake.
Despite years of development and crowd-sourced editing, the usually-excellent Google Maps still has occasional blind spots, and this shows that the consequences can be a bit more devastating than a missed delivery, or having to loop around the block an extra time. Of course, while a tornado-damaged neighborhood might not have enough street signs and house numbers left to make verification easy, you’d think it would be prudent to double check the location before getting started on work like this.
We’ve seen our share of , but what happened to the owners of a Texas duplex is particularly heartbreaking.
Their house (no, that’s happened, it’s not even the first time ) after it was damaged by a tornado, and the demolition company apparently blames Google Maps for the error. They lived at 7601 Calypso Dr., and as you can see below, on Google Maps it lists the same location for that address as it shows for 7601 Cousteau Dr. — the home a block away that was supposed to be demolished. (At the time of this writing, both and have what appears to be the correct listing for 7601 Cousteau Dr.)
