News & Publicity FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 2, 2001 Contact: James L. Willinger (800) 279-7654

Street Numbering Systems & Same-name Streets Can Lead to Confusion PHOENIX - It has been widely reported in the press that a local ambulance company mistakenly went to the wrong city after receiving an emergency call. Why did it happen? How did it happen? Those questions and many others will be investigated by the proper officials during the next few weeks. One thing is for certain; anyone who has driven in the Valley of the Sun knows that can happen all too easily. Because of the different addressing systems, it is quite common to have the exact same address in more than one city here. Major streets like Broadway, Southern and Baseline pass through as many as four different numbering systems, so it is likely to have the same address in each. As an example: 620 East Southern Ave. is between Central Ave. and 7th Street in Phoenix, and there is another one between Mill and Rural in Tempe and another one in Mesa between Mesa Drive and Stapley Drive; oh yes, and another one in Apache Junction between Idaho Road and Tomahawk Road. This sort of thing happens with smaller, lesser-known, residential streets too. The problem with same name streets in different cities adds another dimension of confusion. Hundreds of street names are repeated from city to city and they DO NOT share a common alignment like the Southern Ave. example shown above. Names like Cholla, Palo Verde, and Sahuaro/Saguaro, to name a few, appear in many different cities and they are, literally, all over the map. So, it is very important to find out what city the address is in, and use a good up-to-date map. It can be the difference between finding the right address, and wasting valuable time that can even be used to save someone's life. Those are just a few of the reasons that Wide World of Maps, with stores in Phoenix and Mesa, serves the Valley of the Sun by producing street atlases, guides and maps that are regularly updated. Same-name streets, independent numbering systems and confusing boundaries are issues faced every day by the cartographers of Wide World of Maps. "There are many unrelated streets with the same names in the Valley, and not all streets follow the same numbering systems. This is especially confusing in the southeast valley where Mesa, Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert, Queen Creek and Apache Junction all have different address numbering systems. It's no wonder that people are confused. In addition to the ongoing process of updating our maps, our staff takes calls frequently from people trying to find a specific address or puzzled over the lack of uniformity in numbering," According to Wide World of Maps President James Willinger, "The Phoenix Metropolitan Street Atlas and the Phoenix & Valley of the Sun Street Guide are just two of the map products that Wide World of Maps updates regularly. We use the latest aerial photography, developer plans, city and county records, and customer feedback. Our cartographers will sometimes drive to selected problem areas to make sure that our maps are as updated and reliable as possible." While other map publishers (located in places like Los Angeles, New York and Florida) produce maps of the Phoenix area, they don't have the same commitment to accuracy and the advantage of maintaining it locally. "Because we're here, and we drive these streets every day, we know of street changes and additions as soon as they happen. We also listen to our map users whenever they have a problem, comment or suggestion. We take pride in what we do, we are part of this community." Founded in 1975 by Robert Molner and James Willinger, Wide World of Maps is the most complete map store in the Southwest, carrying every U.S.G.S. topographic map for Arizona, along with more than one million other maps, books and related items. The firm's Phoenix Mapping Service division publishes street maps for Arizona and produces custom maps for government and business. Their retail stores are located in Phoenix and Mesa. For information on anything map-related, call (602) 279-2323 or 800-279-7654; or visit Wide World of Maps' website at www.maps4u.com. ###

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