Google Map Maker – The Map Room https://www.maproomblog.com Blogging about maps since 2003 Sat, 18 Nov 2017 15:08:50 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.maproomblog.com/xq/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/cropped-logo-2017-04-32x32.jpg Google Map Maker – The Map Room https://www.maproomblog.com 32 32 116787204 Google Map Maker Is Now Closed https://www.maproomblog.com/2017/04/google-map-maker-is-now-closed/ Tue, 04 Apr 2017 22:17:11 +0000 http://www.maproomblog.com/?p=4180 More]]> Google Map Maker, Google’s tool to allow users to edit its maps, has been shut down, Ars Technica reports. “A support page went up over the weekend declaring that Map Maker is closed but that ‘many of its features are being integrated into Google Maps.’” You may recall that Map Maker was temporarily suspended in 2015 after a series of embarrassing edits came to light; its editing tools have been increasingly limited to a smaller circle of editors.

]]> 4180 And in Google Maps News … https://www.maproomblog.com/2015/08/and-in-google-maps-news/ Wed, 26 Aug 2015 18:34:04 +0000 http://www.maproomblog.com/2015/08/and-in-google-maps-news/ More]]> Google’s Map Maker is in the process of reopening, with six countries reopening on August 10 and another 45 countries last Monday. Map Maker, Google’s tool allowing users to make changes to Google Maps, was suspended last May after some embarrassing edits came to light. Regional leads are now in place to review user edits before they go live on the map.

If mapcodes and other geographical shortcodes aren’t Googly enough for you, take a look at Open Location Codes, a Google-developed, open-sourced project. Generated algorithmically rather than with data tables. Announced for developers last April, they can now be used in Google Maps searches.

]]> 5998 Google Map Maker Program Suspended https://www.maproomblog.com/2015/05/google-map-maker-program-suspended/ Mon, 11 May 2015 15:55:10 +0000 http://www.maproomblog.com/2015/05/google-map-maker-program-suspended/ More]]>

Google is temporarily suspending Map Maker, its tool allowing user contributions to Google Maps, until they fix their edit moderation system. Auto-approvals of map edits had been suspended in the wake of the notorious and high-profile edits to the map near Rawalpindi; since then edits to the map have required manual approval, which has created a massive backlog. “We believe that it is more fair to only say that if we do not have the capacity to review edits at roughly the rate they come in, we have to take a pause.” Via The Verge.

Previously: Google Maps Edits Cause Embarrassment; A Google Map Maker Roundup.

]]> 5986 Google Maps Edits Cause Embarrassment https://www.maproomblog.com/2015/04/google-maps-edits-cause-embarrassment/ Sun, 26 Apr 2015 19:00:40 +0000 http://www.maproomblog.com/2015/04/google-maps-edits-cause-embarrassment/ More]]> Some embarrassment for Google Maps last week, as they were forced to apologize for an image of the Android mascot peeing on an Apple logo that turned up on the map near Rawalpindi in Pakistan. To say nothing of the phrase “Google review policy is crap” etched into nearby Takht Pari Forest. Both have since been removed. Boing Boing, the Guardian, The Verge.

To be fair to Google, crowdsourcing map data does have its pitfalls: OpenStreetMap has to deal with this sort of thing all the time. You have to have something in place to deal with bad-faith edits. None of the edits I’ve made to Google Maps went through without someone reviewing them, so I’m surprised that this could happen. That said, when you need your map updated fast (such as during natural disasters like yesterday’s earthquake in Nepal), it’s hard to beat crowdsourcing.

As always, it’s important to keep in mind that all online maps have their shortcomings.

]]> 5973