Arabian Farm Airport?
May 4, 2010 4:10 AM Subscribe
Why is the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport titled "Arabian Farm Airport" in Google Maps?
Response by poster: Are those rhetorical questions? It was called JMJCCA in Google Maps a few weeks ago. And if one types in "John Murtha Airport Arabian Farm," nothing comes up (except for this question). Google couldn't answer this question (easily enough for me to figure it out, anyway), thus the question.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 4:35 AM on May 4, 2010
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 4:35 AM on May 4, 2010
Maybe the people who own the airport followed Google's instructions for changing business names on their map?
posted by Houstonian at 5:06 AM on May 4, 2010
posted by Houstonian at 5:06 AM on May 4, 2010
Response by poster: The airport is called the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport.
There's no doubt that somebody changed the name of the airport. I'm wondering if anyone knows why and who may have done so.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 5:10 AM on May 4, 2010
There's no doubt that somebody changed the name of the airport. I'm wondering if anyone knows why and who may have done so.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 5:10 AM on May 4, 2010
They're actually slightly different locations, as notice that Google Maps will plot an AB course from one to the other.
posted by rokusan at 5:46 AM on May 4, 2010
posted by rokusan at 5:46 AM on May 4, 2010
Maybe the people who own the airport followed Google's instructions for changing business names on their map?
Or someone who didn't like Rep. Murtha did. That there are three different labels for the same small airport makes me wonder about a sad little map-naming war.
If it really concerns you, you might try contacting Google (right click the label and "Report a Problem").
posted by aught at 6:01 AM on May 4, 2010
Or someone who didn't like Rep. Murtha did. That there are three different labels for the same small airport makes me wonder about a sad little map-naming war.
If it really concerns you, you might try contacting Google (right click the label and "Report a Problem").
posted by aught at 6:01 AM on May 4, 2010
Response by poster: That there are three different labels for the same small airport makes me wonder about a sad little map-naming war.
This was also my thought. If that were the case, though, I wonder what Arabian Farm alludes to. The belief that the money for the airport came from Arabian dollars? I'm just going to call the airport and ask someone there.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 6:07 AM on May 4, 2010
This was also my thought. If that were the case, though, I wonder what Arabian Farm alludes to. The belief that the money for the airport came from Arabian dollars? I'm just going to call the airport and ask someone there.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 6:07 AM on May 4, 2010
Well, Arabians are also a kind of horse, and there is at least one breeder in Johnstown, so maybe not necessarily something creepy/bigoted.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 6:12 AM on May 4, 2010
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 6:12 AM on May 4, 2010
Response by poster: Yes, yes. I understand. Arabian horses. Arabian horse farm. There are also pig farms. Yet the airport is not called Pig Farm Airport. There must be a reason WHY the airport is being referred to as Arabian Farm Airport. This shit be buggin' me, yo!
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 6:20 AM on May 4, 2010
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 6:20 AM on May 4, 2010
Response by poster: Just called the airport. They have no idea why it's called Arabian Farm Airport, they've never heard the airport referred to by that title, they haven't heard from anyone else that the name of the airport is wrong in Google Maps, they've never heard of an Arabian Farm airport at all, and they will be looking into it. Weird.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 6:32 AM on May 4, 2010
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 6:32 AM on May 4, 2010
Response by poster: It's a classic whodunit/whytheydunit/howtheydunit!
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 6:42 AM on May 4, 2010
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 6:42 AM on May 4, 2010
If you zoom in two levels, "Johnstown Cambria County Airport" shows up with the destination flag. Weird. (along with the Arabian Farm Airport pushpin)
posted by dforemsky at 6:48 AM on May 4, 2010
posted by dforemsky at 6:48 AM on May 4, 2010
Best answer: Google's data appears to be off. According to boundary and annexation survey, the 'arabian farm airport' is at the end of Antanazzo Ln. There might have been an airstrip there at one point.
posted by jdfan at 6:59 AM on May 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by jdfan at 6:59 AM on May 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
Don't blame on malice what you can blame on stupidity, as they say. It looks like a Google maps glitch to me.
I say this as someone who up until a few weeks ago, lived at a non-existent "ghost" hotel (There used to be a small hotel, which no longer exists, as the same address I live) and, looking now, they moved me over to an adjacent street and mis-named the street I live on. So, perhaps there was a recent update?
posted by vacapinta at 7:06 AM on May 4, 2010
I say this as someone who up until a few weeks ago, lived at a non-existent "ghost" hotel (There used to be a small hotel, which no longer exists, as the same address I live) and, looking now, they moved me over to an adjacent street and mis-named the street I live on. So, perhaps there was a recent update?
posted by vacapinta at 7:06 AM on May 4, 2010
Here's the remains of the Arabian Farm Airport on Google Maps.
(Also, I believe jessamyn's town has been in the middle of a lake for some time now thanks to a Google Maps error.)
posted by mendel at 5:31 PM on May 4, 2010
(Also, I believe jessamyn's town has been in the middle of a lake for some time now thanks to a Google Maps error.)
posted by mendel at 5:31 PM on May 4, 2010
Here's the remains of the Arabian Farm Airport on Google Maps.
Which is interesting, but not at all where the earlier-linked census boundary map had placed it.
None of this I guess should surprise me since Google maps still has a local road running across our regional airport (I presume that's where the road ran before some airport expansion a decade or two ago).
posted by aught at 12:53 PM on May 5, 2010
Which is interesting, but not at all where the earlier-linked census boundary map had placed it.
None of this I guess should surprise me since Google maps still has a local road running across our regional airport (I presume that's where the road ran before some airport expansion a decade or two ago).
posted by aught at 12:53 PM on May 5, 2010
Response by poster: Well, this is all very bizarre. I suppose a call to the Penn Bureau of Aviation is in order...
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 3:17 PM on May 5, 2010
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 3:17 PM on May 5, 2010
This name was entered into the USGS Geographic Names Information System in 1990:
http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=135:3:3351189840701319::NO::P3_FID,P3_TITLE:1193944%2CArabian%20Farm%20Airport
posted by buttercup at 6:30 PM on May 5, 2010
http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=135:3:3351189840701319::NO::P3_FID,P3_TITLE:1193944%2CArabian%20Farm%20Airport
posted by buttercup at 6:30 PM on May 5, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks, buttercup. Those coordinates suggest that jdfan's map is correct, and that mendel's map is a bit off. mendel, how did you end up with that map? Was it just a guess?
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 4:44 AM on May 6, 2010
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 4:44 AM on May 6, 2010
I... yeah, I dunno. Airport-shaped thing overriding actual location, I guess. Sorry about that.
posted by mendel at 7:14 PM on May 6, 2010
posted by mendel at 7:14 PM on May 6, 2010
The more I look at mendel's location w/Google map/satellite image, the more I think that that pattern (and the paths through the trees to the WSW of there) is the remains of old railroad beds. But it did look like an airport at first, I agree.
posted by aught at 2:06 PM on May 7, 2010
posted by aught at 2:06 PM on May 7, 2010
Response by poster: If anyone is still following this post . . .
Google has fixed the error.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 5:33 AM on June 11, 2010
Google has fixed the error.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 5:33 AM on June 11, 2010
aught: You got me looking again, and they're for power wires, from the looks of things.
posted by mendel at 3:57 PM on June 13, 2010
posted by mendel at 3:57 PM on June 13, 2010
If anyone is still following this post . . . Google has fixed the error.
Cool. They fixed a couple errors I sent them about places near where I live, including a spot where the road in maps view was going across the regional airport runway. (In their defense I think it's where the road actually was 25 years ago.)
aught: You got me looking again, and they're for power wires, from the looks of things.
Yes, indeed -- Google street view to the rescue!
posted by aught at 6:21 AM on June 15, 2010
Cool. They fixed a couple errors I sent them about places near where I live, including a spot where the road in maps view was going across the regional airport runway. (In their defense I think it's where the road actually was 25 years ago.)
aught: You got me looking again, and they're for power wires, from the looks of things.
Yes, indeed -- Google street view to the rescue!
posted by aught at 6:21 AM on June 15, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by gjc at 4:26 AM on May 4, 2010