More OCR errors in Google Maps

10 February 2012

Introduction

I’m currently virtually revisiting places on Google Maps that I often visited before, in order to see if I can find back some of those OCR-mangled town names I remember having seen before, but that I didn’t make notes of. They are similar to the one that inspired me to write this article.

The list may become longer over time, as I stumble upon more cases.

List

Mourithe, should be Mourilhe. Near Cinfães and Castelo de Paiva, in North Portugal. Snapshot , click to enlarge.
São miguel da Pena, should be São Miguel da Pena (case error only). Near Vila Real. Snapshot .
Foros de Cortico, should be Foros de Cortiço, with a cedilla under the letter c. Likewise the nearby Fazendas de Cortiço. The word cortiço means beehive in Portuguese, a word cortico does not exist. Snapshot , click to enlarge. These places are in the freguesia Nossa Senhora do Bispo (indicated on the map as ‘Ns. do Bispo’) in the concelho Montemor-o-Novo, Alentejo, Portugal.
Monle do Vidigão de Baiko. That cannot be right because the combination ‘nl’ is impossible (or at least very rare) in Portuguese, and the letter k is never used in native names. I guessed it should be Monte do Vidigão de Baixo (de baixo = below). That’s not in Wikipedia, but there are some possibly relevant Google-hits. Snapshot . In between Arronches and Campo Maior, Alentejo, Portugal. Near the reservoir of the Caia dam.
Monle do Prsão, should be Monte do Pisão, mentioned here. Near Arronches, Alentejo, Portugal. Snapshot .
Perna Cha should be Perna Chã. Here’s some postal code information that confirms that. So there should be a tilde (~) on top of the a: ã, not a. The words chão and chã often occur in geographical names, they are cognate with English ‘plain’ and Spanish ‘llano’ and ‘llana’. Snapshot .

Addition 12 August 2012: All errors have been corrected, see this note.