Strange company names in GM

For some time I have suspected that some shops, restaurants and the like that are indicated on GM/GE maps are not real. I am talking about residential buildings, houses that do not look like shops or restaurants and have strange names. Not the kind of names you’d expect for such businesses (although naming conventions have become less strict since the swinging 60s). What to think of this:

To begin with, it doesn’t look like a clothing store at all, does it? And who calls their store in a very small village Shabby Chicks? It doesn’t sound particularly appealing. My suspicion is further confirmed by the fact that, a few lines below, it says:

So it wasn’t the owners who registered their “shop” with GM. Was it some practical joker, or worse, someone meaning harm, who did this?

But many business types do not require any store or any office. A house can be more suitable. Even more, when people think they do not ough to rent a site for business, they use their home address to become a tax payer whereby they can legally operate in the market. 

It's fairly common to run into businesses that do not exist, or place markers that are not correctly placed.
Example: This [ LINK ] 'business location' is an overgrown lot ... I've been by the location just to make sure.

I've seen many of those cases, too. Businesses located in the middle of nowhere, for example. Sometimes I report them as non-existent, but GMaps makes it hard to report more than one or two in a few days' time. I've concluded they do not want a lot of reporting, which is also the case for ridiculously placed or inappropriate photos. Perhaps there are not enough employees to review these. 

The business names located on a home can be completely legitimate. In most US counties/states, you can locate your business office in your home. Also, when you first apply for a business license, you may use your home address before a physical location is found, such as for a store. None of these bother me, much, except the ones that are obviously randomly placed. This happens very frequently with photos and there is also the problem with the user uploading a random photo labeled with a business name. Children and teenagers like to upload short, irrelevent (sometimes creepy) videos at Maps businesses. There is apparently little or no moderation, anymore.

Jun 16, 2020 21:47:38 GMT bridgeplayer said:

This could be something like an Ebay or Amazon store. Many of those businesses have no stock of their own, they simply have shipping managed by the corporations by "drop-shipping" goods from the manufacturer - often in China.

Look what I found tonight: A "fake business" marker! While looking around on GMaps close to where I live, I found an "establishment" called Secret McKay Fort located on a cattle ranch out in the middle of nowhere. I had never heard of a fort by that name and the placemark on GMaps seems to be on a pile of debris. With a search, I finally found Secret McKay Fort..." a fort that only Gavin's friends know about." Then, in another search, I found the obituary of a Clydine McKay of Dorris, California, and a great-grandson named Gavin is listed. He lived in Dorris at the time of Clydine's death, 2016 (RIP, Clydine). Any ranch would no doubt have a pile of debris and, sure enough, there is a photo of it on Gavin's undated Wiki entry. I conclude that it's a photo of Gavin's fort after it was demolished. 

Other members here will have to tell me what Wiki pages are about, as I don't recognize any purpose except as fan pages for assorted fantasy characters. 

Speaking of misplaced markers, here is a Russian night club out in the middle of the tundra goo.gl/maps/FXzwDUe7HkVnzSU99

There needs to be a forum category for oddball markers, labels, roads, borders, and elevations ( I fondly remember all the 3D elevation errors when GE first came out ) .

Jul 8, 2020 11:38:27 GMT KitsuneFox said:

...There needs to be a forum category for oddball markers, labels, roads, borders, and elevations ( I fondly remember all the 3D elevation errors when GE first came out ) .

I think we have some: Members' Open Area / Data Discussions

Check my posts from the subforum! (;

Jul 8, 2020 11:38:27 GMT KitsuneFox said:

Speaking of misplaced markers, here is a Russian night club out in the middle of the tundra goo.gl/maps/FXzwDUe7HkVnzSU99

There needs to be a forum category for oddball markers, labels, roads, borders, and elevations ( I fondly remember all the 3D elevation errors when GE first came out ) .

Hi, KitsuneFox - that's actually spam, or at least someone's idea of a joke. The "website" is makeamericagreatagain.com. With a name like memeville, I guess the intention was to link to this "place" as needed for purposes of memes. As a former GE moderator, I couldn't resist spoiling the fun and reported it as spam, so it will be removed...unless a new feature of Google Earth is to host nonexistent places as jokes!   

I can't believe you even found that in arctic Siberia! Here is a link to its former location, for posterity: tinyurl.com/ybg55kad

Jul 15, 2020 1:45:52 GMT diane9247 said:

I can't believe you even found that in arctic Siberia! Here is a link to its former location, for posterity: tinyurl.com/ybg55kad

.
The marker has been removed now.

 I like to spend time wondering around in remote locations on GM looking for any 360's that been posted. I have found some interesting shots up there ... even a couple "street view" areas.

Yes, Siberia is a great place for finding things. I'm a little bit obsessed with Stalin's Gulags, so I'll read something or see a youtube video about one and try to find the ruins of it. Sometimes, they're obvious, like around mines in the far east. One very large and famous one is visible on SV.

Happy searching!