Google is relaunching its Map Maker tool, which lets users make edits to its Google Maps service, but will give its community of users more powers to moderate digital vandalism. Map Maker was introduced in 2008 as a way for Google Maps users to edit information on the mapping service directly, plugging any gaps in […]
Google is relaunching its Map Maker tool, which lets users make edits to its Google Maps service, but will give its community of users more powers to moderate digital vandalism.
Map Maker was introduced in 2008 as a way for Google Maps users to edit information on the mapping service directly, plugging any gaps in the information from Google’s third-party providers.
The tool was shut down in May, shortly after an image of the Android robot urinating on an Apple logo was discovered on Google Maps just south of the Pakistani city of Rawlpindi, having been added using Map Maker.
Given that Google has a limited number of people it can put on Map Maker moderation, the company will now select qualified community users in different areas to become “Regional Leads” who will be in charge of edits made within their region.
Google’s operators will still occasionally moderate maps, but the bulk of the work will be left up to the community moderators and the automated system.
Kanakarajan noted that relying more on human edits over the automated system will cause edits to take a bit longer to become active, and is asking users to be patient until it grows the number of community moderators.
Map Maker will begin rolling back out to users in phases, beginning in August.
