Addresses and Google Maps

dl8860 · 27 Sep 2021 at 14:59

We moved house recently and plenty of delivery drivers/sky engineer etc have struggled to find us.

The house is a name rather than a number, but at the same time it's hardly the middle of nowhere. Just outside a town, and only just set back from a main road. The postcode points you to a location about 3 doors down.

If you search for the full address in google maps, it doesn't find it. Next door's address is very similar (just one word different), and yet theirs does come up.

What do delivery drivers use to find a non numbered property if it isn't listed in gmaps?

If you have a non numbered address, does yours come up? There doesn't seem to be a clear way to get it added to gmaps. Is it possible? And is there any downside?

Surveyor · 27 Sep 2021 at 15:06

Fix a missing address or wrong pin location

You can publicly add or edit addresses in Maps. Add mailing addresses, fix where packages would be delivered, or adjust pin locations.

Feek · 27 Sep 2021 at 15:36

dl8860 said:
The house is a name rather than a number

This was the bane of my life when I used to be 'on the road'. Don't all houses actually have numbers but some people just choose not to use them?

/edit - I do remember struggling to find someone, calling them to ask and they told me they were the house next to 'number xxx'. Surely that means they were number xxx+1 (or +2, depending on odd/even numbers) but were just being Mrs Bucket by naming their house rather than admitting it actually had a number?

dl8860 · 27 Sep 2021 at 15:43

Feek said:
This was the bane of my life when I used to be 'on the road'. Don't all houses actually have numbers but some people just choose not to use them?

/edit - I do remember struggling to find someone, calling them to ask and they told me they were the house next to 'number xxx'. Surely that means they were number xxx+1 (or +2, depending on odd/even numbers) but were just being Mrs Bucket by naming their house rather than admitting it actually had a number?

This is the strangest thing I've ever read, surely if you used to be 'on the road', you must know that it doesn't make sense for some houses to have numbers. For instance, the road that my house is on doesn't have a street name. So how can you have a number to your house without a street name? Have you ever seen an address have a road number rather than name?

So no, it's definitely not the case of some people thinking they are somehow better or something by hiding their house number. So bizarre!

Martynt74 · 27 Sep 2021 at 15:44

We're a little different in that we're on a normal street, but annoyingly there's a 2 Shop Lane and we're 2 Gatehouse Cottage, Shop Lane. Although the entrance to our house is off a side road off the main road. Often drivers will go to 2 Shop Lane despite the item stating Gatehouse Cottage.

Luckily we seem to order so much stuff all the drivers now know us

Terminal_Boy · 27 Sep 2021 at 15:45

Give them the what3words designation for your house. Job jobbed.

Feek · 27 Sep 2021 at 15:51

dl8860 said:
This is the strangest thing I've ever read, surely if you used to be 'on the road', you must know that it doesn't make sense for some houses to have numbers. For instance, the road that my house is on doesn't have a street name.

I think the idea of a road without a name is very strange. I'm trying to think of any streets or roads I ever went to which weren't named and I can't think of a single instance.

dl8860 said:
So no, it's definitely not the case of some people thinking they are somehow better or something by hiding their house number. So bizarre!

Oh, in some cases, it really, absolutely is!

Not casting aspersions, it's just general chit chat.

Terminal_Boy said:
Give them the what3words designation for your house. Job jobbed.

That would work.

Giving a house a name which is the what3words location would be a fun thing to do.

dl8860 · 27 Sep 2021 at 15:55

Feek said:
I think the idea of a road without a name is very strange. I'm trying to think of any streets or roads I ever went to which weren't named and I can't think of a single instance.

The house I'm sat in right now, my parents house, and my in-laws house (so the first 3 I could even think of) are all on roads that don't have names. Just road numbers.

Maybe it's a regional thing?

SexyGreyFox · 27 Sep 2021 at 16:05

dl8860 said:
The house I'm sat in right now, my parents house, and my in-laws house (so the first 3 I could even think of) are all on roads that don't have names. Just road numbers.

Maybe it's a regional thing?

Can you link to one, I'm finding it hard to understand what you're on about.
I've just asked a neighbour who is a Postie if he's ever come across an address where there is no name for the street/road and he looked at me funny.

Feek · 27 Sep 2021 at 16:09

dl8860 said:
The house I'm sat in right now, my parents house, and my in-laws house (so the first 3 I could even think of) are all on roads that don't have names. Just road numbers.

A road without a name with houses without numbers?

Do you live on the beach? :cry:

dl8860 · 27 Sep 2021 at 16:32

Feek said:
A road without a name with houses without numbers?

Do you live on the beach?

What on earth is going on.

My address is
"House name
Village name
City
Postcode"

The road I live on has a number but certainly no name.

SexyGreyFox said:
Can you link to one, I'm finding it hard to understand what you're on about.
I've just asked a neighbour who is a Postie if he's ever come across an address where there is no name for the street/road and he looked at me funny.

The whole point is I can't link to one. You could try and tell me what street name there is for buckingham palace if you like. Because it doesn't have one. Or Blenheim Palace.

I'm not pretending I live in a stately home, these are just examples that people know exist, where there's no street name, because they aren't on a street.

You could try and look at the A44, between Bromyard and Worcester. If you live on that road, your address doesn't have 'A44' in it. Someone else chime in, please.

ttaskmaster · 27 Sep 2021 at 16:42

Feek said:
This was the bane of my life when I used to be 'on the road'. Don't all houses actually have numbers but some people just choose not to use them?

Nope... Not according to the VCAP Gazetteer we use at work - Some are officially registered as just names.
Doesn't really matter anyway - We live on a main road, with a 3' wide sign right outside on the front wall, Google maps takes you to this exact location, yet still delivery people fail to find us... and then get proper arsey when you point out the blindingly obvious sign they walked straight past.

Feek · 27 Sep 2021 at 16:54

ttaskmaster said:
Nope... Not according to the VCAP Gazetteer we use at work - Some are officially registered as just names.

Fair enough, I've learned something today. Every day's a school day.

Semple · 27 Sep 2021 at 16:55

dl8860 said:
What on earth is going on.

My address is
"House name
Village name
City
Postcode"

The road I live on has a number but certainly no name.

The whole point is I can't link to one. You could try and tell me what street name there is for buckingham palace if you like. Because it doesn't have one. Or Blenheim Palace.

I'm not pretending I live in a stately home, these are just examples that people know exist, where there's no street name, because they aren't on a street.

You could try and look at the A44, between Bromyard and Worcester. If you live on that road, your address doesn't have 'A44' in it. Someone else chime in, please.

That's definitely strange though.

Maybe fine for a postie who knows the rounds, but if you ordered something specific from a company that did nationwide delivery and they headed to your village - mind the postcode won't always point to the exact street, they would then be lost. They'd literally have to drive around every road trying to find "House name". At least with a road name that would narrow the search down.

fezster · 27 Sep 2021 at 17:01

Feek said:
Don't all houses actually have numbers but some people just choose not to use them?

No, some houses definitely just have names.

Google Maps is very frustrating to update, though. You can add a location as an "apartment" but not as a house. I've had a contribution submitted to them for over 2 months to fix my own address, but it still hasnt been accepted.

Bluecube · 27 Sep 2021 at 17:04

Out in the countryside there are plenty of houses with no numbers and just names. They have addresses in the same format as dl8860's.

Terminal_Boy · 27 Sep 2021 at 17:09

Feek said:
A road without a name with houses without numbers?

Do you live on the beach?

You laugh, but most of rural France just had lieu-dit / place called and then the house name. We’ve only been dragged into the 21st Century because La Poste insisted every road had a name and every house had a number before fibre broadband got rolled out.

Tuppy_Glossop · 27 Sep 2021 at 17:17

Some private roads don't have names. There is a road over the canal opposite us and it is completely private (owned by British Waterways). It has no name and the police have failed several times to enforce parking restrictions on it. There are no individual houses on it, just two gated developments with their own postcodes.

dl8860 · 27 Sep 2021 at 17:20

Tuppy_Glossop said:
Some private roads don't have names. There is a road over the canal opposite us and it is completely private (owned by British Waterways). It has no name and the police have failed several times to enforce parking restrictions on it. There are no individual houses on it, just two gated developments with their own postcodes.

It's not just private roads and weird instances... it's a hugely common thing. At least in the parts of the world where I grew up and now live.

I guess if you only spend your time in cities in might seem strange. I imagine addresses without numbers and street names existed well before those with them first appeared.

el_dazza · 27 Sep 2021 at 18:27

Feek said:
Fair enough, I've learned something today. Every day's a school day.

Part of my job for the ONS is dealing with these streets and particularly houses with just names. People would put their address on the Census as 'Dumroamin, New Street' and no village/postal town/postcode and they're an absolute nightmare to try and track down.