I was reading an article today about a Michigan couple filing a lawsuit against the various companies behind Pokemon Go. This is a fascinating topic to me because more and more the digital mapping realm is almost as important as the physical building space for some people – whether residential, retail, government, commercial or other. If you occupy a physical space do you have any control over external companies occupying your digital location in a mapping application? For example: if Pokemon Go decides that your house is an [I’m making this up] Ultimate Destination That All Pokemon Go Players Must Visit to Win can you do anything about it?
Let’s take it from a different direction: what if you are a retail store and somehow a competitor of yours tags all of your real addresses with their information in the digital realm? Much like a competitor buying advertising based on searches of your company name, they now get to grow along with you. But unlike simple advertising, geographic information tends to come with an implication that people actually visit the location in the real world.
Much like air rights were never a concern until people began flying over buildings, digital footprint is a completely untested area. But just like air rights, there is likely some expectation that owners of physical locations have their site represented correctly while also not being squatted on by digital companies. I would certainly be shocked if UPS accidentally geocoded my home address as a package drop off point in their map and people from around town started dropping off packages for delivery in my driveway. This is probably an extreme example but it makes the point.
I’m just beginning to form thoughts on the topic but a few Google searches didn’t come up with any rules or regulations around the topic. Although the horrific case of a farm in Kansas is an example worth noting. What if your home was the US default geocode for any location where the address didn’t resolve into an exact point location? Certainly seems like an inconvenience at the least.
Would love to know more thoughts and opinions on the topic because it is starting to become more and more pertinent – especially in the world of real estate.