You can try it yourself – go to Google Maps and attempt to find Oxygen Street.

Eradicated from Google Maps as if they never existed. Again, according to the author of the blog post, some time after discovering the various instances of Oxygen Street, he went back to find them…and they were gone. Scrolling down to the comments on the article, I noticed the mention of Oxygen Street and followed the link to this blog post from 2010 which only briefly mentions the street in question.Īccording to the author, Oxygen Street was a modern-day trap street included on Google Maps, that was present in a number of British towns and cities (Norwich, London, Durham, Lytham St Anne’s, Edinburgh and Birmingham among others), but which was always presented as a cul-de-sac of the same length…but which did not actually exist.

This search lead me to this article on the Londonist website, which documents some more recent discoveries on the topic of trap streets (some of which appear to just be honest mistakes that were hastily erased when discovered).

However, in the winding warrens of the UK’s medieval city layouts, it’s pretty realistic that some trap streets may have been discovered or added as homage to the practices of yore. Naturally, since the invention of sat navs and satellite imagery and their inclusion in Google Maps, Ordnance Survey maps, Open Street Map etc., adding trap streets is a pretty redundant practice these days. I was absent-mindedly browsing the internet recently and decided to have a search for trap streets that exist on modern maps. It’s a pretty ingenious way of catching copycats, and trap streets – or rather the search for them – has been something of a hobby of mine on and off for the last few years.Īnd so we turn our attention to the mystery of Oxygen Street. If cartographer A added an erroneous street or cul-de-sac to his or her map, and cartographer B’s map also included it, then it was obvious that the work had been copied. Trap streets were (or are) a method employed by cartographers where fake streets or non-existent towns were added to printed maps in order to catch out rival map producers. It’s almost as if the past still exists between the pages of those archaic records of the physical world.įor the purpose of this article though, I’m mainly focusing on two things. It’s not just electronic maps either – old A to Zs hold a curious fascination and I love looking at outdated plans and layouts of towns that have been redeveloped and changed dramatically over the years. From the urban sprawl of London or Paris to the desolate back roads of the Canadian wilderness, I just find it fascinating to peer at places. I don’t know why, but I could spend hours just staring at Google Maps and looking at places I’ve been to or places I’d like to visit.

Trap street cartography