Mapping: An Easy NYC Cat sit that sitters won't see

Sitter Questions, Advice & Chat
1

So I’m not going to break any forum rules by trying to link. The other day I went looking for New York State sits, since the spouse and I love short sit getaways “upstate” especially in summer and fall.

I came across 3 sits in summer and fall in “Sunnyside.” The map refers to a small hamlet near Kinderhook in the Hudson Valley. But the sits are actually in a lovely neighborhood in Queens that is for real a 12 minute bus ride to the upper east side of Manhattan or under 20 minutes to midtown by train. I know this because I grew up there!

I also understood what happened because it’s happened before. When a host changes lists for the first time or moves, the system asks for “Nearest city or town.” If the host had put Queens they would have gotten a dot in the middle of central Queens much further from the home to Manhattan. If they put New York City, they’d get a dot in the middle of a lake in Central Park. They searched the drop down for their neighborhood “Sunnyside” and found it and put that. They didn’t realize that the “Sunnyside, New York” on the drop down was about 90 miles from their home.

So the three dates have plenty of spaces for applicants. The homeowner lived somewhere else and has experience with the site. If you want to get your NYC application in, I’ve given you the map. Please let the homeowner know so they can fix this next time.

2

Interesting, thanks. That’s why it’s important for HOs to provide sufficient details in the Location section. I often see listings in areas that I know well, and the people will vaguely refer to being an hour’s drive from, say, Center City Philadelphia. But WHERE is vitally important for prospective sitters to know.

3

The homeowner does say Queens and the title references NYC I think. But my point is that the sit itself does NOT come up on either a Queens or New York City search because the hamlet of Sunnyside is 90 miles or more from NYC and Sunnyside Queens is part of NYC.

The listing comes up on a New York State search. This is again an issue with the mapping system. There are some neighborhoods the homeowner can put in that would be closer. For instance, Astoria shows up. Sunnyside is actually walkable (if you like long walks) to Astoria but it is NOT Astoria. And sitters might be annoyed if they thought it was.

Again, the homeowner thought they were being precise. They should have picked either New York City with a description of where the neighborhood is or Borough of Queens with a description but they had no way to know this.

4

Thanks for the tip & good deed, @anon9376833 ; while I can’t do their current dates, I’ve favorited them for future. Will try to send them a quick note about their location/map issue.