14 DAY TRIAL // The Mountain View company is again requiring the users' help to improve some of its solutions, Google Maps being the mapping tool that offers editing powers to the consumers. Basically, the web-based service now allows business owners to improve the product by adding their own business on the map even easier than they did before. Until now, Google Maps sent a postcard to the business owners interested in registering for the service, a process that required a considerable amount of time. Starting today, the process is a little bit faster as the validation can be done within a simple phone call or by means of an SMS sent by Google Maps.
"This free process is now even faster and easier to use. Users in international locales can now receive verification via a phone call or SMS rather than waiting for a postcard in the mail. With our new verification options, it only takes 10 minutes to create or edit, and then verify your listing. We do the rest -- your business will appear on Google Maps within a few weeks," Hubert Pan, Product Manager, said today.
Last week, Google rolled out another feature concerning the businesses listed on Google Maps and enabled the consumers to post their own reviews and opinions about a certain restaurant, bar or hotel. This way, the search giant manages to improve an important side of the web product and intends to make Google Maps a real interactive solution based on the users' support.
However, the most important update in the recent period is obviously the Street View function added to Google Maps, a feature that raised privacy concerns and kept the parent company on the first page of every newspaper. As you might have heard, Street View is a function that shows street-level panoramas from numerous US locations. Because some of the residents appeared in the photos, some of them sustained that they are afraid that Google's tool might show private information straight from their houses. The search giant defended itself by sustaining that no one would ever invade their privacy and Street View shows only the elements discoverable from the street.