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Leebert [soylentnews.org] writes:

Alissa Walker of Gizmodo reports [gizmodo.com] on a change that various GPS and online mapping vendors have implemented. Visitors to the iconic Hollywood sign [wikipedia.org] find closeup access to the sign elusive, and often crowd the tight local residential streets while trying to get a closer view. Locals contend that, aside from being annoying, the excessive congestion represents a safety hazard, potentially impeding emergency responders.

Their solution was to have the location of the sign changed in GPS vendor databases, which was accomplished through the efforts of LA City Council member Tom LaBonge [wikipedia.org]. Such changes are not without precedent, according to the article:

Over at Garmin, Hysell noted that their cartographers do, in fact, take input outside of their own experiences driving the routes. "They do receive data on a regular basis from city officials, county officials, DOT websites, and so on, and of course, make updates and adjustments to the mapping accordingly," she says. "They also take reports from users, too, and apply changes as deemed worthy and verifiable."

While this sounds fairly reasonable, the article touches on the negatives, including a detailed explanation as to why the new location provides a worse view, an account of legal threats she received for posting better addresses online, and a general discussion of the ostensibly excessive NIMBYism [wikipedia.org] of the locals.

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