The victim of a domestic assault called for police in October, giving her location as Whitestone Five Forks Rd, just outside of Weston, which is what one road sign for the road calls it.
However, the road is officially called Whitstone Five Forks Rd and is recorded as such in all emergency service data systems.
Senior Constable Bruce Dow, of Oamaru, said it took about three minutes, and the caller became increasingly agitated and frustrated, before the emergency call taker narrowed down the right location.
Something needed to be done about the sign on the road, Snr Const Dow said.
''Anyone in that area who has been living there for a while won't have an issue with it, but this woman needed something better.''
This was the first time he was aware of such a communication incident occurring on that road, and while everyone was all right in the end, there was every chance the domestic violence situation could have escalated.
Waitaki District Council roading manager Michael Voss said the road was legally recorded as Whitstone Five Forks Rd and had often been misspelled or referred to as Whitestone Five Forks Rd.
''The sign on Weston Ngapara Rd is correct, while the sign along Whitstone Five Forks Rd is incorrect.''
Mr Voss said the incorrect sign would be changed to show the correct road name within two weeks, but that did not change how it might be recorded on maps.
''NZ Topo Map has it correctly recorded as Whitstone, while Google Maps has Whitestone. I put Whitstone into Google map search and it changed the search to Whitestone.
''We are able to notify Google, but [I'm] not sure how long it will take for them to update.''
