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Tag: google map maker

  • Google Map Maker Reopens, Tries to Prevent Pissing Androids

    After a series of questionable (but kind of funny) edits, Google shut down its map editing tool Map Maker in May while it “made the moderation system more robust.”

    Today, Google is announced that it will reopen Map Maker in early August, with a new focus on community moderation.

    “Map Maker will be reopened for editing in early August, and we’re looking for users to now have more influence over the outcome of edits in their specific countries. This means that edits on Map Maker will be increasingly made open for moderation by the community. While some edits will still require moderation by Google operators, our loyal users will recognize that this is a departure from how we have operated in the past where majority of your edits were reviewed by Google operators. This has been a request you’ve made for a very long time, and this change should, hopefully, come as good news,” says Map Maker head Pavithra Kanakarajan.

    “The reason for this change is that every time we observed someone attempting to vandalize the map, many of you acted quickly to remove the offending feature and demonstrated real ownership for maps within your region. We have come to the conclusion that of all the defenses available to keeping our maps clean, the interest of a community of well-intentioned users, is among the most reliable and fast.”

    That vandalizing included putting a listing for Edwards Snow Den inside the White House (har), and drawing an Android pissing on an Apple logo in Pakistan.

    Google says Map Maker will reopen slowly, in stages. Regions will be assigned “Regional Leads” who will approve edits, in conjunction with Google’s auto-moderation. This will likely mean more wait time for edits to be approved.

    Pissing Androids aren’t the only problem Google has faced with its Maps product. Back in May, Google has to apologize for pointing people toward the White House, historically black colleges, and other locations when shockingly racist search terms were entered into Google Maps

  • Google Map Maker Heads To The UK

    Google Map Maker Heads To The UK

    Google announced the launch of Google Map Maker in the UK, kicking it off with a MapUp workshop in Bletchley Park.

    Program Manager Satish Mavuri writes in a post on the Google Maps blog:

    More than 40,000 people around the world are making contributions and improving Google Maps through Google Map Maker each month. Now it’s your turn to help, whether marking the trails throughBrecon Beacons National Park in Wales, adding all your favorite shops in London’s Soho Square, or improving driving directions to St Ives in Cornwall. Drawing from your knowledge about world famous tourist destinations or the streets of your hometown, you can now use Google Map Maker to make the map of the United Kingdom (along with Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey) more comprehensive and accurate than ever before. Once approved, these improvements will appear across Google Maps,Google Earth, and Google Maps for Mobile.

    …

    Krzysztof Przygoda, a Poland native who’s actively contributed to the map of that country via Map Maker, has since relocated with his family to the UK. Now, he’s looking forward to enriching the maps of both his homeland and his new stomping grounds. Krzysztof is particularly eager to map the narrow network of paths that wind through his new neighborhood, with the goal of improving directions and navigation for local cyclists and pedestrians in Gloucester.

    Google is calling upon people familiar with particular places in the UK to join Map Maker and engage with the community.

  • Google Runs Afoul of Indian Agency over Mapping Contest

    Google, who is no stranger to international dustups over its maps and street view service, has run afoul of India’s federal mapping agency over a recent project to improve upon the country’s maps.

    Google first announced the Mapathon back in February, saying that they were trying to create better maps for India, “a country where even paper maps have historically lacked in details.” Google offered prizes to participants – including Android tablets, phones, and various bits of Google swag. All Google asked people to do was add location details via Google Map Maker.

    The Mapathon officially began on February 12th and was over by March 25th.

    According to Google India, the Mapathon was a huge success. They reported new information on 32,000 emergency locations like hospitals, 82,000 food updates, and 42,000 map updates on places of worship. None of the information collected via Map Maker had anything to do with “sensitive places,” according to Google.

    But the Indian Survey agency wasn’t too happy about it, and they asked Google to cease the promotion as it was “likely to jeopardize national security interest and violates National Map Policy.”

    The Indian federal survey and mapping agency has filed an official complaint, and the head of the agency says that they plan to take the issue to Parliament later this month. Apparently, local law says that companies must obtain expressed permission from the proper authorities in order to operate a map project like the one Google sponsored. Failure to do so opens up such companies to local prosecution.

    But Google India spokesperson Roy Chowdhury says that Google did in fact informed local officials of its mapping project, and that it complied with all local regulations.

    “We take security and national regulations very seriously, and we’re open to discussing specific concerns with public authorities and officials,” said Chowdhury.

    [Wall Street Journal (paywall) via Search Engine Land]

  • Google Launches Updated Maps For North Korea

    Google Launches Updated Maps For North Korea

    Just a couple weeks after executive chairman Eric Schmidt returned from North Korea, Google has published more detailed maps of the country.

    “The goal of Google Maps is to provide people with the most comprehensive, accurate, and easy-to-use modern map of the world,” said Google Map Maker senior product manager Jayanth Mysore. “As part of this mission, we’re constantly working to add more detailed map data in areas that traditionally have been mostly blank. For a long time, one of the largest places with limited map data has been North Korea. But today we are changing that with the addition of more detailed maps of North Korea in Google Maps.”

    “To build this map, a community of citizen cartographers came together in Google Map Maker to make their contributions such as adding road names and points of interest,” added Mysore. This effort has been active in Map Maker for a few years and today the new map of North Korea is ready and now available on Google Maps. As a result, the world can access maps of North Korea that offer much more information and detail than before.”

    Google Maps North Korea

    Google acknowledges that the map is not perfect, and it is encouraging people to continue using Map Maker to help it improve.

    The updated maps are now live .

  • Google Map Maker Available for 8 More European Countries

    Part of Google’s objective to make the perfect map of the Earth relies on the community of amateur map-makers around the world who are willing to take the time to create maps of their neck of the woods. As expansive as Google is, even it must welcome the contributions from these auxiliary cartographers and, really, having maps made from people who live in these previously-unmapped regions adds a level of local familiarity and intimacy likely not attainable from cars, satellites, or planes.

    It is for this reason that Google makes available its Google Map Maker for people throughout the world and today it announced that Map Maker is now available in eight European countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland.

    The addition of these countries pushes the availability of Google Map Maker to well over 190 countries and territories. Depending on what source you rely on, that’s nearly every country in the world (hold on a little bit longer, Andorra, Chile, Russia, et al. – you’ll probably be added before too long – well, maybe).

    Interested parties can link up with collaborators in the Map Your World Communitymaps to tackle those big ranges of land or, if you’re a lone cartographer type, you can simply head over there and get some feedback from your fellow users of Map Maker.

    Google’s been under some pressure lately to keep developer interest in its mapping service. Apple recently pink-slipped Google Maps for its own native geo service while OpenStreetMap has continued to attract developers with its open source platform, creating some surging challenges to Google’s place atop of the search mountain.

    [Via Lat Long Blog.]

  • Google Map Maker Arrives for South Africa, Egypt

    Google Maps unveiled many a fun product at yesterday’s “Next Dimension” conference that will be arriving for the company’s geo services. One new feature that Google Maps went into further detail today on its blog is the new availability of Google Map Maker to Egypt and South Africa.

    The service launched for the two countries yesterday along the promise of Google Map Maker becoming available for another ten countries later this month. The updates submitted by users of Map Maker are typically included into the general Google Maps and Google Earth data within a matter of minutes after they’ve been approved, making the accuracy of these maps of utmost urgency. After all, you don’t wanna really steer anybody astray if they’re in unfamiliar environs. However, if you’re unsure of the exact shape of that lake or whether that restaurant is still located where you believe it is, users of Map Maker can collaborate with other online cartographers to verify the maps and make suggestions when necessary.

    During yesterday’s conference, Google Maps Vice President Brian McClendon described the import of Google Map Maker for both users and developers, saying, “The ability to add your local knowledge enables users to add hiking trails, bike paths, and correct and improve local business listings.”

    Google plans to launch Map Maker soon for the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland.

    Google recently invited talented map makers to participate in a competition where designers were asked to make 3D models of their towns, which would then be added to the Google Earth topography. While it was a clever way to encourage people to contribute to Google’s map data, the competition also yielded some impressive examples of what people are capable of making with Google Maps and Google Earth. So have fun, newly acquainted African countries.

  • Google Gives Local Users More Power in Map Editing

    Google Gives Local Users More Power in Map Editing

    Google announced today that it has launched the Regional Expert Reviewer program fro Google Map Maker.

    If you’re unfamiliar with Google Map Maker, it’s an offering from the company, with which users can add their own knowledge areas to improve Google Maps.

    With the new program, mappers Google deems “distinguished” get increased reviewing capabilities within their state, country or region of expertise.

    “Our Regional Expert Reviewers earned their appointed positions by making an impressive number of high quality contributions to Google’s base map, and by actively participating with Google and other mappers on our Map Your World discussion forums,” explains Google Map Maker software engineer Robin Anil. “Much as Google reviewers are differentiated by a ‘G’ icon next to their username in Google Map Maker, you can recognize a Regional Expert Reviewer by an ‘R’ icon next to his or her username when they review your edits. These moderators are located all around the world, and the Map Maker team is thrilled to be working alongside such expert mappers to ensure our quality of reviews remain high in our ongoing effort to build better maps.”

    “Map Maker is rooted in the belief that local knowledge is essential to creating accurate maps, this is the very reason we put mapping in users’ hands,” says Anil. “They can be reassured that their edits may be reviewed by other locals who are familiar with their area and are invested in the quality of mapping around their community. Additionally, all Map Maker contributors can, at any time, review and comment on the edits in their communities. After all, contributors know their neighborhood better than anyone else. Now, their reviewers can, too.”

    More information about how to use Map Maker can be found here.

  • Google Map Maker Opens in US

    Google map maker is a community cartography service that allows users from all around the world to add and update locations from the more obscure corners, as well as those places simply untouched by the world of online cartography.

    According to Google, only 15% of the world’s population had detailed community maps before the debut of Map Maker. Now, after submissions and editions from 183 unique regions, Google reports that 30% of the world now has accurate online maps of their communities.

    Until now, maps were being made by amateur cartographers all over the world, but not in the States. Today, Google is announcing that Map Maker is now open in the U.S.

    Basically, Google’s philosophy with the Map Maker is that people know their communities the best. Since most of America’s major infrastructure is already logged and readily available on Google Maps, most of the additions in Map Maker will just add detail and specificity to communities.

    For instance, a user can add locations, say the Tequila Cantina on he corner of Mill St. and Main St. Users can edit incorrect information about where things are actually located in their town. Google suggests that map makers in college towns provide detailed maps of campuses. The Map Maker can also be used to add small pathways like bike paths that might not be already included in Google Maps.

    Each new submission will be reviewed for accuracy and Google says they will have them up within minutes. This real-time visual log of map updates is pretty cool. See it in action here.

    Also, users everywhere now have access to street view within the map maker, which should help. So let’s go, people – log those places. Sometimes, when I’m in an unfamiliar small town, I can’t find a pizza place or a diner to save my life. I’m looking at you, Sparta, Georgia.