14 DAY TRIAL // Google Maps boasts about much more detailed map data for several countries, thanks to volunteers who have dedicated their time to creating an online map of their surroundings.
After the last update, Google Maps has become usable in Afghanistan, Antarctica, Ecuador, Georgia, Guatemala, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Honduras, Iraq, Norfolk Island, Saint Pierre & Miquelon and Saudi Arabia.
Google relies on volunteer contributors to provide more accurate data for its mapping tools and sometimes to fill in the many blanks that Google Maps has.
For many countries, there simply isn't enough data out there to use in Google Maps.
This is where the locals come in. They can use their knowledge of the locations around them to create very accurate and detailed maps that would be very hard and prohibitively expensive to create otherwise.
"These citizen cartographers help keep maps of their areas accurate and up to date. They add missing roads and new businesses—and even map areas that have little to no data yet on Google Maps," Anjali Joshi, director of Product Management for Google Maps, writes.
Google has provided the Map Maker tool for this and, since its launch, it's been used to map much of the world. In many countries, the "before" and "after" pictures speak for themselves.
For those that have contributed, the thought that millions may benefit from their work is enough to make it all worth it.
From time to time, when enough data has been added, Google 'graduates' countries and regions from Map Maker to Google Maps, the site visited by many millions of people.
Google Map Maker debuted in 2008, but has been used extensively since and has now become the single biggest source of data for Google Maps, certainly in most parts of the world. Before this latest update, 160 regions had been added via Map Maker alone.
