Phantom settlements, or paper towns, are settlements that appear on maps but do not actually exist. They are either accidents or
copyright trap
Fictitious or fake entries are deliberately incorrect entries in reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias (including Wikipedia), maps, and directories. There are more specific terms for particular kinds of fictitious entry, such as Mo ...
s. Notable examples include
Argleton
Argleton was a phantom settlement that appeared on Google Maps and Google Earth but was later removed by Google. The supposed location of Argleton was between the A59 road and Town Green railway station within the civil parish of Aughton in ...
,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
, UK and
Beatosu and Goblu
Beatosu and Goblu are two non-existent towns in Fulton and Lucas counties in the US state of Ohio, respectively. They were inserted into the 1978–1979 edition of the official state of Michigan map. The names refer to the slogan of University ...
, US.
Agloe, New York
Agloe is a fictional hamlet in Colchester, Delaware County, New York, United States, that became an actual landmark after mapmakers made up the community as a phantom settlement, an example of a fictitious entry similar to a trap street. Agloe w ...
, was invented on a 1930s map as a copyright trap. In 1950, a general store was built there and named Agloe General Store, as that was the name seen on the map. Thus, the phantom settlement became a real one.
There are also misnamed settlements, such as the villages of Mawdesky and Dummy 1325 in Lancashire on
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets ( Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and rou ...
.
There is a
humorous conspiracy theory that the German city of
Bielefeld
Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...
is a phantom settlement, despite the fact that it has a population of over 300,000.
Paper towns can also be abandoned settlement construction sites that are no longer being built because of the owner's shortage of money.
Phantom settlements often result from copyright traps, also known as mountweazels, which is when a false entry is placed in literature to catch illegal copiers.
See also
* ''
Paper Towns
''Paper Towns'' is a novel written by John Green, primarily for an audience of young adults, and was published on October 16, 2008, by Dutton Books. The novel is about the coming-of-age of the protagonist, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen and his search fo ...
'', a novel where phantom settlements become plot points
** The
2015 film of the same name, based on the novel
*
Paper township
The term paper township refers to a civil township under Ohio law that nominally exists for certain purposes but does not act as a functioning unit of civil government. Such townships usually exist on paper as a legal fiction due to municipal an ...
*
Phantom island
*
Fictitious entry
Fictitious or fake entries are deliberately incorrect entries in reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias (including Wikipedia), maps, and directories. There are more specific terms for particular kinds of fictitious entry, such as Moun ...
References
{{Cartography-stub
Cartography
Fictitious entries
Fictional populated places