How to Remove a Private Road From Google Maps

Google Maps is a great tool for navigating your next vacation, but it may cause issues when your private properties are featured on this service.

Recently homeowners have been noticing that they've been able to see their private road on the map, and the road has been labeled as a public street.

Just Imagine if an individual suddenly barged into your space without permission. Wouldn't it make you feel inconvenienced?

It would be frightening and annoying to see people run all over your private road without considering your need for safety and privacy.

However, your problem has a practical solution. If you want to remove your private road from Google Maps, there are a few steps you can take.

Let's dive right in!

Private Road: What Does It Mean: and Who Owns It?

As the name suggests, a private road is a path or driveway where the public is not usually allowed. It is the owner's personal property, and only certain people can pass through it with the owner's permission.

Officially, an individual, organization, or company can own a private road, and there can be single or multiple owners of a private road.

When it comes to maintaining such property, any local authority and government are not responsible.

What Is The Difference Between a Driveway and a Private Road?

Most people consider a driveway and a private road synonymous with each other. However, they are not the same.

A driveway is located on a property, only open to those who live on it while a private road would also lead to other properties.

Why Would You Want to Remove a Private Road?

Risk of Accidents and Drivers Getting Lost

Letting navigation apps make all your driving decisions is risky business; they may send you down a dark alleyway or a seldom-traveled back road.

Google Maps can be extremely beneficial support for drivers, delivery people, and transportation employees, but it can sometimes produce undesirable impacts on users' lives.

The map's algorithm can put drivers at risk by predicting dangerous routes and underestimating estimated driving times.

In 2019, a hundred Colorado drivers embarked on a journey they never should have been on when Google Maps led them to an empty field in Peña Boulevard, Denver: where they got lost for hours.

The drivers followed the directions from their navigation system and were led down into a mud pit.

Connie Monsees, who was on her way to pick up her husband at the airport, said "I thought 'maybe there's a detour' and pulled it up on Google Maps, and it gave me a a detour that was half the time".

She adds: "It was 43 minutes initially, and it was going to be 23 instead – so I took the exit and drove where they told me to".

There are a lot of jaw-dropping stories that happened. One occasion was when a young Oregon couple spent 24 hours in the snow after Google Maps sent them on an unmaintained road along the Castleton-Gateway Road.

The Grand County Sheriff searched for the two and their pet who explained the case.

“Following directions on their Google Maps app, they drove their late model SUV up from Gateway and became stuck attempting to turn around when they realized the snow was too deep on the unmaintained and unplowed road.”

You must not blindly trust not just Google Maps but any navigation apps that tell you to take alternative routes hardly ever used by cars.

Helps in Keeping Up The Privacy

Nobody wants others to run over their private property, and it would not be acceptable for anyone to intrude or trespass in their personal space without permission. Also, if the private road is for some specific place like a farmhouse, the issue of privacy becomes significant. And therefore, it would be best to remove your private road from Google Maps.

Make Your Home Ward-off The Map

How Does Google's Mapping Work: How Come Your Private Road Was Added After All?

Have you ever wondered how Google gets an accurate estimate of traffic on several roads?

If yes, then here is the answer.

According to Google, sources like private data providers and government departments of transportation help in traffic data collection. However, when you use Google Maps, you also contribute to the data collection.

Google Maps on Android or iOS give real-time traffic data reports to Google constantly. Later, Google compares this data with those sent by other smartphones active in the same area.

How Often Does Google Maps Get Updated?

Looking at approximate data, the local guides, business owners (the users of Google my business services), and the Google map users deliver inputs ranging up to 20 million every day: that means 200 inputs and new pieces of information every second, indicating that google Maps are constantly updated – even in seconds!

Learn How to Submit the Corrections to Google Maps

Errors related to a road in Google Maps include:

• Missing roads
• Error in mentioning a one-way or two-way road
• Incorrectly drawn road
• Non-existing road
• Road closures
• Incorrect road names

If you'd like to fix incorrect information about a road using the computer, follow these steps:

• On your computer, go to Google Maps.
• Click the Menu button in the top left corner.
• Select Edit the map > Wrong information at the bottom.
• Pick the road or place you want to fix from the list.
• Select the type of information you want to fix.

Learn How to Blur Your House

Your house on Google maps is a gift to burglars, stalkers, and anyone who is looking for a target. One of the best ways to protect your home and family is by blurring your house on google maps: and it’s easy to do.

Here’s how:

Step 1: Go to Google Maps.

Step 2: Enter your home address.

Step 3: Enter into street view mode by dragging the small yellow human-shaped icon.

Step 4: Click on "Report A Problem". (see the bottom-right corner of the screen).

Step 5: To request blurring of your home, center the red box on it and select 'My home' in the 'Request blurring' field.

Step 6: Enter the reason for this request like privacy and enter your email address and you're done!

Important: You must note that blurring images of your private property or Identity on Google Maps is permanent and irreversible.

Once you request to blur images of your private property or Identity through the “Report a Problem” page on Google Maps, these images will no longer be viewable. You cannot change this action once it is complete.

However, you can only provide feedback within the Google applications; but Google does not guarantee that the requests you submit to remove blurred images will ever undo the action.

Conclusion

Removing a private road from Google Maps will enable you to and others steer clear of challenging situations. Making use of it will matter a lot more if you are hypersensitive to the road's privacy. Whether or not you value your private road, the privacy you enjoy mitigates the importance of keeping it in Google Maps.

We hope you found this post helpful in understanding how to remove a private road from Google Maps. All you need to do now is to use the steps to ensure your safety with privacy.