Ian Valentine

Since Google Maps was released in 2005, it has become the gold standard of Web-based mapping applications. For many people, including myself, Google isn't just the best choice... it's the only choice. Even as Google Maps has evolved and become more robust and useful, I think it may be tumbling from its dominant position.

Here's a Google Maps view of an area near the center of my town. Looks fine, right? But here's the problem: Most of the streets in this screenshot don't exist. Here's the same area in satellite view:

As the satellite image shows, where Google Maps says there are streets, there's actually just a whole bunch of nothing.

What's strange about this is that until recently, Google Maps was very accurate. Since I don't have a navigation system, I've relied on Google Maps for directions for years, and I've been able to do so without having to double check for accuracy. But in the past three months, since Google has allowed people to report a problem with their maps, I've done so over 30 times. Among the errors I've reported: 

• Liberty Island (home of the Statue of Liberty) and Ellis Island mislabeled as each other, despite the mislabeled "Ellis Island" having the correctly labeled Statue of Liberty on it.
• The Rutgers-Newark campus mislabeled as the New Brunswick campus, despite being in downtown Newark right next to the word Newark in big, bold letters.
• Newark Liberty International Airport misnamed and shown as being in the middle of downtown Newark.
• Rutgers' Busch Campus mislabeled as UMDNJ.
• Jackson, NJ shown as being in Camden County, about 50 miles away from its correct location in Ocean County.

At this point, I've come across so many errors that I might as well just give up and start using Bing. Unlike Google, Bing gets it right:

Even the much-maligned Mapquest and hey-wait-they're-still-around? Yahoo Maps are accurate.

It's as if Google got their data from a guy on the street who thinks he remembers the location of that place you're looking for and gives you rambling, vague directions on how to get there. When Mapquest trumps Google on one of its core products, something has gone horribly wrong.

New Jersey Transit unveiled its newly redesigned website today, and it bears an uncanny resemblance to the website of another East Coast transit agency. See if you notice any similarities:

New Jersey Transit (njtransit.com)

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (wmata.com)

Right down to the gray background color, the pages are nearly identical. If NJ Transit is going to follow Metro's lead, I can only hope we get buses that look like these.

Yesterday, 44 people, including a slew of public officials and religious leaders across New Jersey and New York, were arrested as part of a federal investigation into an international money laundering ring and corruption scheme. That corruption exists in New Jersey politics is no surprise. That most of the public officials arrested yesterday are from Hudson County is also no surprise. But the sheer number of people involved in this scheme — and their brazenness — is pretty stunning.

One of the accused is the newly elected mayor of Hoboken, a city near where I grew up and near where my dad still works. The city's mayor allegedly received $25,000 in bribes from a developer seeking to build high-rise developments in town. Another who was arrested, Jeff Williamson, is a housing inspector in Lakewood, the next town over from where I live now. Williamson was also a Democratic state assembly candidate for my district in 2007. He is accused of taking $16,000 in bribes and providing illegal office space to a witness in the case.

I can't say I'm surprised... after all, corruption has been endemic in New Jersey politics since before I was born. I'm not surprised, but I am disappointed and annoyed.

This is why New Jersey is regularly portrayed as being crawling with mobsters and stinking of corruption.

This is why so many see New Jersey as "the armpit of America."

This is why, as Rodney Dangerfield would say, we don't get any respect.

It seems that so many from outside the state think that all of New Jersey looks like the stretch of Turnpike between Manhattan and Newark Airport, or that The Sopranos is practically a reality show. We New Jerseyans have a lot of work to do to correct those perceptions, but ordinary people can't do it alone. We need our public officials to spread the word about our state and inform people that no, Jimmy Hoffa isn't buried beneath the end zone at Giants Stadium, and yes, our state has nice, clean beaches, picturesque small towns, and the largest and most well preserved reserve on the East Coast.

We need to turn our state's image around, and every time a politician somewhere in New Jersey puts themselves ahead of their constituents, does something stupid and gets arrested... it gives more ammunition to the critics, the naysayers, the haters, and the late night comedians who malign our state for a cheap laugh.

So, to all the politicians in New Jersey: if you think you might want to help a developer get some permits in exchange for some quick cash... if you're eyeing over some "gifts" that look enticing... don't do it. Because it's corruption that gives our state a bad name.

That, and The Real Housewives of New Jersey.

I recently attended the Campus Progress National Conference in Washington, DC. The conference consisted of three days of training, brainstorming, and discussion, as well as the appearance of a long list of great speakers. Nancy Pelosi, Kathleen Sebelius, John Oliver, Van Jones, and John Podesta spoke, just to name a few. Oh yeah, and Bill Clinton was there too.

This was my first time at CPNC, and I really enjoyed it. I did the journalism track, which included a day of workshops and critiques from professional journalists, and another day of panels and workshops that focused on particular skills and issues. I got a real sense of how rapidly the journalism industry is changing, and how both media outlets and individual journalists are adjusting. I had been considering going to journalism school in a few years, but some of the comments made by the journalists at the conference have me rethinking that option.

Many of the journalists at the conference pointed out that many successful journalists started out simply by diving in and reporting, rather than going to journalism school. David Schimke, editor-in-chief of the Utne Reader, compared attending journalism school to taking classes to learn how to play an instrument – it's one way, but not the only way.

I especially enjoyed the panel about independent media, which featured a colorful journalist named Al Giordano. Giordano runs the website Narco News, which reports on the War on Drugs and associated issues in the Americas. When the topic of discussion turned to funding models for news media, Giordano said that when a large donor to his website threatened to pull his funding because he didn't like the site's coverage, he told the donor to "fuck off!" And when someone from the audience asked a question about NPR, he described it as "effete snobbery."

And then there were the speakers. There were a few who were less than stellar (Kathleen Sebelius' speech about health care was a bit... clinical), but most of them were great. John Oliver was undoubtedly the best speaker. He went back and forth between the serious and the frivolous, never letting the crowd go too long without a laugh. He even repeated the word "asshole" just to make the ASL interpreter sign it again... only to discover that there was a kid in the front row. Brilliant.

Overall, the conference was a great success, and I had a lot of fun. Can't wait until next year!