A small Treasure Coast town is trying to get on the map, literally.
For years, the mayor of the town of Ocean Breeze in Martin County says delivery drivers, out of town guests and even locals, have had trouble finding residents’ homes.
Mayor Karen Ostrand explained when you punch her address into Google Maps, it never shows up. She says the same thing happens to nearly every resident in the very small town of just hundreds of people.
“It’s been two years of begging someone, help,” Ostrand said.
Ostrand says Google Maps even has the name of the town wrong, listed as Ocean Breeze Park, instead of Ocean Breeze. The name of the town, she said, changed eight years ago.
“When I became mayor I wanted to make sure the name was correct,” Ostrand said.
So, about two years ago, she first sat down with the postmaster to make sure residents’ mail would go to Ocean Breeze, Florida. Before, it was addressed to Jensen Beach, despite the incorporation of the town.
But Ostrand also got involved in a plan to change several dozen street names in the town to names that were tropical or nautical to match the feel of the colorful homes.
The post office updated the addresses.
But two years later, the GPS map of the town is still outdated with old streets.
It’s proven to be inconvenient getting any deliveries. “We’re talking shopping, buying furniture, and how many of us use Amazon?” Ostrand said. “If you go to a furniture store, and you ask them about ocean breeze, you probably get a roll of the eyes because of the trouble to deliver.”
Ostrand and her husband say they have sent updated addresses to Google, but the changes haven’t happened.
“I'm this close from saying to my husband I’m going to get on a plane, go out to California, knock on Google’s door,” Ostrand said.
We reached out to Google, which said it is looking into the concerns.
Google Communications Manager, Liz Davidoff, sent WPTV the following statement:
The various types of data found in Google Maps come from a wide range of sources. Our basemap data - things like place names, borders, and road networks - comes from a combination of third-party providers, public sources, and user contributions. Overall, this provides a very comprehensive and up-to-date map of the US, but we recognize that there may be occasional inaccuracies that could arise from any of those sources. While we regularly update the map, the amount of time it takes to update varies.