I was inspired by this post to see if I could find some more egregious examples of similar behavior and I've come up with at least one that I regard as a doozy. Try "125 Cambridge St, Brighton, MA" in Google Maps and you'll get redirected to 125 Allston St in Cambridge[1], which is ridiculous. There are (at least) three Cambridge Streets in Boston - one in Boston proper, one in Charlestown, and one in Allston/Brighton (it runs through both). Number 125 on the Allston/Brighton Cambridge St is technically in Allston, not Brighton... but a reasonable person asking for 125 Cambridge St in Brighton would want number 125 on the Allston/Brighton Cambridge St and not anywhere on either of the other two Boston Cambridge Streets, never mind Allston Street (or really any other street) in Cambridge. Seems like google maps takes way too many liberties with loose matching including allowing for transposition of the street and municipality. Seems like it also believes that "Allston" is a (weak) synonym for "Brighton" but it either believes that only applies to street names and not municipal ones (totally backwards) or it prefers it for street names (weird). At the same time, it does not seem to (as in your case with Brook vs. Brooks) account well for typos or minor spelling variations of which it is not explicitly aware.
[1] It did offer me alternatives in this case but its best guess is really, I think, not even plausible
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Date: 2011-04-09 03:18 pm (UTC)[1] It did offer me alternatives in this case but its best guess is really, I think, not even plausible