> The idea that every object, even among those that can be easily mapped in a day, has a single True Name, is simply an incorrect assumption around here.
A few months ago, I went to a mixer hosted by a new online real estate startup, and the attendees were an interesting mix of neighborhood low income housing activists, property managers, and city officials. I was noticed some of their listing had notations that the property was in 'neighborhood Y', when actually it was, IMHO, in 'neighborhood X' because I had lived their, and according to the city 'association' map, it was in 'neighborhood Z'. Now, 'neighborhood X' had historically been of somewhat ill repute ( like newspaper crime and environmental reporting ), and 'X' had some fairly definite walking, connectivity, commerce ( The' X Market' ), and boundary elements. The city people admitted that their map was made quickly and they had basically used Census boundaries and never checked with anyone, and nobody ever complained, and said they were really open to changing it, that it was only a temporary place holder. The activist noted their neighborhood had been divided and assigned to two others, essentially erasing their semi-official status. The property management people were looking really uncomfortable, and as I continued scanning the listings, found that they had invented a few new 'plausible' neighborhoods 'neighborhood "T Street' and 'neighborhood S Street' and assigned some listings to the higher income 'neighborhood Y'. When I pressed them, they said it was because they could charge higher lease rates, and based on client feedback, nobody wanted to live in 'neighborhood X' when a Google Search was done. I gave the start-up founder my copy of 'Seattle Geographies' in sympathy, advised him to read it, and left before the serious blood letting began: http://www.aag.org/cs/aag_bookstore/other_publications/seattle_geographies There's been a long term feud going about the local 'International District': https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/name-feud-clouds-opening-of-library/ +1 on "There is no single True Name" Kenny, that was an absolutely wonderful post on New England geographies. Michael Patrick
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