ALSO SPLAIN ZUBINZARANZARIUS 
“By chance this morning, I needed to find a certain place in Houston. So I opened my trusty web browser and went to the main Google Maps page. I started zooming in . . . and at a certain level of zoom, a very funny word sort of popped out at me near Jersey Village – ‘Zubinzaranzarius.’ I zoomed in more, and it appears to be the name of a legitimate neighborhood — Zubinzaranzarius North. A quick Google search returned a bunch of websites offering to find a house, schools or spas near ‘Zubinzaranzarius North’ — but none of that confirmed the real existence of the location, since those sites probably just mine Google Maps data. Does such a funny-named locality really exist, or did a Google Maps programmer play a practical joke on Houstonians and Jersey Villagers, or did Google Maps get HACKED???” [Swamplot inbox]
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This is legitimate – according to HCAD it is a storage facility: http://hcad.org/records/details.asp?crypt=%94%9A%B0%94%BFg%85%8F%84%7Coj%8El%88tXtYW%9E%99%A2%D3%89%95%C2e%7CU%8A%7D%86%C0%AB%A8%AD%86%5E&bld=1&tab=1
Legal Description: RES A BLK 1
ZUBINZARANZARIUS NORTH
Property Address: 11500 W FM 1960 RD
HOUSTON TX 77065
I wonder if it’s a new class of map easter egg – http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Easter_eggs
Sometimes map data owners put in bogus data (though it’s generally harmless/minimally disruptive) so that they can identify when folks are stealing their data and republishing it.
Funny.
When you google ZUBINZARANZARIUS NORTH and then click on google maps, it takes you directly there, no questions asked! ;p
You can edit place names and polygons on google maps if you like, google will then approve them and place them on the live map.
It’s called Google Map Maker, give it a try if the locations in your neighborhood are mislabeled!
http://www.google.com/mapmaker
In this case a shopping center was incorrectly labeled as a neighborhood. I have requested that Google delete this label.
If you just zoom in on Jersey Village proper you will see another section below it named “Zubinzaranzarius – Jersey Village”.
No block book maps, no corp names from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, but a couple of real property transactions:
http://i56.tinypic.com/wtvt6o.jpg
This is the feature that’s causing all the trouble.
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?q=zubinzaranzarius&hl=en&ftid=0x8640d199c5c4805f:0x7a3edf7936a9cf26
I’m just here to give a cheer for the awesomeness of “Also Splain Zubinzaranzarius.”
I noticed that label a few months ago and figured that somebody had just made up a name and convinced Google of it. How do you convince HCAD to make something part of the legal description of your property?
I second the awesomeness of “Also Splain Zubinzaranzarius.”
Funny I do not find this.
oh my gosh, I just came across this the other day!! I had a good laugh, but no one else in my office cared… Now I feel justified :-)
I thought this was the legendary Jersey Village Lesbian enclave??
It showed up on a Harris County Commissioners’ Court Agenda in March 2004.
http://www.co.harris.tx.us/agenda/2004/0406ag.pdf
I’ve been searching for this Zubinzaranzarius North myself for quite some time. I was convinced it was from another universe…but maybe I’ve just been watching too much Fringe.
LOL I had found this the other day and wondered the same thing.
Perhaps the location of Ponce de León’s fabled Fountain of Youth?? You never know.
go look at Buescher State Park just north of Smithville on Google Maps
Zubin is my name, Zaran and Zarius is my brothers names. My dads