14 DAY TRIAL // Google is finally releasing Map Maker in the US, making it the 184th country to be supported. But it's not because the country's been ignored so far, Google Map Maker was initially intended for places where there wasn't much data available, to enable users to help out with the details.
That hasn't been a problem in the US, Google has plenty of accurate sources of info. Now though, Google is positioning Map Maker as a tool for neighbourhood level data, which is still lacking even in the US.
"Map Maker users have mapped entire cities, road networks and universities that were never previously recorded online," Google's Lalitesh Katragadda, Tech Lead and Manik Gupta, Product Manager, Map Maker, wrote.
"These contributions have been incorporated into Google Maps and Google Earth, so the collective expertise of the Map Maker community benefits the millions of people using these products globally," they explained.
"Today we’re opening the map of the United States in Google Map Maker for you to add your expert local knowledge directly. You know your neighborhood or hometown best, and with Google Map Maker you can ensure the places you care about are richly represented on the map," they announced.
Google also provided an explanation of how Map Maker works, for those that may be unfamiliar. Users can edit any data in Google Maps and the changes go live almost instantly, but only in Map Maker.
After they are reviewed, they may eventually go live in Google Maps and Earth, though not all changes get approved. However, as more edits from particular users get approved, they get the ability to have their updates go up in the main products within minutes.
Map Maker has also been updated with a couple of new features, you can see Street View imagery directly from Map Maker. You can also edit points of interest now and the advanced search options have been updated.