Yesterday, the search engine giant announced that Google Map Maker is back in more than 45 countries, including the U.S., Brazil, India and lot more.
Google Map Maker is back, but why was it disabled earlier?
The Google Map Maker tool lets users submit their own corrections and additions for quickly updating the Maps. In April, there were some offending edits on some maps that bypassed Google’s automatic filters, and included an Android logo urinating on an Apple logo; which forced the company to disable the system earlier this year in May.
Now, when Google Map Maker is back, some rules have been modified. The community moderators known as “regional leads” will first approve edits in their respective areas; only then the changes will be made. Although people can volunteer for this role, leads will be ultimately selected by the search engine giant based on the quality of past contributions. The new moderation system chosen by Google is designed to prevent offensive Google Maps edits.
Google said:
“[Regional Leads] are users who have demonstrated a clear interest in mapping their areas and will be helpful in moderating edits made by you.”
Map Maker will return to more countries when regional leads will be selected there. Meanwhile, the search engine giant has temporarily disabled the ability to edit or add polygonal geometry, but users can still submit edits for other polygon attributes including names.
Google Map Maker is back and you can visit google.com/mapmaker to check if your country is added to the Map Maker list or not.