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Google Maps Embraces New Tiny Made-Up Neighborhood: RAMBO
By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 7, 2012
Modified Dec 7, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 7, 2012
Modified Dec 7, 2012
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Everyday, real estate hucksters-gone-mad are doing their best to bring their vision of a nightmare NYC packed with imaginary neighborhoods to fruition. The latest bullshit neighborhood to slip into Google Maps? RAMBO, or "Right Around The Manhattan Bridge Overpass." And unlike with LoDel, this time even the nonsense neighborhood watchmen seem to be okay with it.
Made-up neighborhoods whistleblower Matthew Hyland, who was previously able to put a stop to "Midtown South Central, told us he had not only come across this acronym before—he actually approved it: "A fellow reviewer really wanted it on there and made a convincing argument to keep it. I had originally erased it earlier in the year as I believe it was some kind of joke Curbed played for a stupid neighborhood name contest. It is only 2 by 2 blocks and so we left it without much argument." It must have been a very convincing argument, since in a NY Times article on him in September, Hyland noted that he nixed RAMBO because, "I like my maps accurate."
RAMBO has been floating around since 2007, even though Wikipedia claims the "rarely used name" was "coined by Brooklyn resident Tony Hall in July 2011" (for the record: we have email proof that Gothamist's own Jake Dobkin was using RAMBO in 2009). Looking at its Wiki history, there's been A LOT of activity on the page over the last week, so the fact it is now Google-approved seems to have made an impact. But as Hyland put it, it IS a very tiny area, so perhaps we should let this go—but it's the principle, damnit! Although, perhaps we could somehow use RAMBO as a stepping stone to make Garth Johnston's dreams of HoBro (centered around the Houston and Broadway location of Hollister) come true.
Tagged
brooklyn
dumbo
google maps
imaginary neighborhoods
made-up things
maps
Neighborhoods
rambo
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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