Google Maps has launched a desktop map editing tool that allows users to add new or missing roads to the landscape.
Rolling out to more than 80 countries in the coming months, this feature allows users to add missing roads by drawing lines, renaming roads, realigning or removing incorrect roads and reporting if a road is closed.
All they have to do is click the menu button on the side of the Maps home page, click ‘Edit the map’ and select ‘Missing road’.
Google added that it checks all posts before they are published to make sure pranksters aren’t adding roads that don’t exist.
Google Maps also tries to help local businesses by leaving users with quick photo updates instead of extensive reviews.
The tech giant is giving users new ways to edit maps to ensure the service ‘reflects the real world’ during the current pandemic.
“ With all the change our world has seen over the past year, more than ever, people are relying on high-quality, up-to-date information about the places around them – for example, whether a nearby restaurant is open or if a local supermarket has updated opening hours, ” it says company in a blog post.
“We’re making it easy for anyone with a Google account to contribute their local knowledge of more than 200 million places in Google Maps.
“These community-led updates help people everywhere make better decisions about what to do and where to go.”
Currently, Google is asking you to click on the map where the missing road should be and enter the name.
Once the feature is rolled out, it will need to be updated so that users can draw the missing roads.
To make sure the tool isn’t being hijacked by pranksters and to make sure that suggestions and edits are accurate, Google checks contributed road updates before they are published.
The company says it will email the authors about the status of their edits.
Another update announced by the company in the blog post, which will be rolled out “ in the coming weeks, ” allows users to share photo updates on their mobile.
Essentially, users can share current information about companies and helpful tips simply by uploading a photo.
A photo update is a recent snapshot of a place with a short text description, without having to leave a long review or rating.
This will help other Google Maps users ‘find and share experiences’ with recent photos.
Google Maps users can upload as many photos about businesses as they want under the Updates tab as an alternative to writing a review
To leave a photo update, users need to go to the ‘Updates’ tab when looking at a place in Google Maps to see the latest photos that sellers and other people have shared.
To add their own update, they can tap ‘upload a photo update’, select photos, leave a short description and then post.
“You can post as many photos as you want and find photo updates that others have left in the Updates tab,” says Google.
Google is also encouraging Maps users to update 100,000 businesses with new photos, reviews and updates in the coming month.
To do this, users can click on the Contributions tab in Google Maps and add ratings, reviews and information about local businesses that have been visited, such as a cafe or bakery.
Google calls this the ‘local love challenge’ because it aims to help businesses affected by the pandemic.
“We see people showing love and support for local businesses on Google Search and Maps by leaving photos, writing reviews, or updating factual information, such as a store’s new opening hours,” says Google.
‘We want to strengthen that same local love with a function that we are now testing.’
This feature works with Local Guides, the community of users who share tips and photos about places in the Maps app that anyone can join.
Local Guides launched six years ago and now has 150 million contributors around the world, Google also revealed in the post.
Since its launch, Local Guides have contributed more than 70 percent to the reviews, photos, and other types of user-generated content on Maps.
Google celebrated 15 years of Google Maps last year with the launch of a new and updated design, giving the terrain a ‘more vibrant’, detailed and colorful look.
15 YEARS OF GOOGLE MAPS
A shot of Google Maps as it looked when it launched 15 years ago. Google says the service has since ‘redefined what it means to be a card’
– On February 8, 2005, Google Maps was first launched for desktop as a new solution to help people “get from point A to point B”.
– Just a few months later, Google Earth was launched, with 3D renderings of the planet. Today, Google Earth contains more than 36 million square miles of high-definition satellite images.
– In December 2005, Portland, Oregon became the first city to use the Transit Trip Planner, giving commuters insight into public transit schedules and routes. It started out as a standalone product, but eventually collapsed into Google Maps.
An early version of traffic conditions in Maps for desktop. Two years after its launch, Google Maps introduced real-time information on traffic conditions for more than 30 US cities
About two years after the launch of Google Maps, the company introduced real-time information about traffic conditions for more than 30 US cities.
– Google Street View debuted on May 29, 2007. Many of us will remember seeing a Google car drive by to capture images of the streets.
– In November 2007, Maps became mobile. Google has released version 2.0 of Google Maps for mobile, available for Blackberry, Palm devices and others. The first Android app was launched in 2008, followed by the iOS app in 2012.
Google Trekkers could help fill in the gaps in Google Maps by carrying a 360-degree camera in a backpack on hiking trips
– In 2012, it introduced the Street View Trekker, which allows people to capture hard-to-reach images on foot using high-tech equipment packed in a backpack.
– In November 2015, Google launched Offline Maps, allowing offline users to still take advantage of Google’s directions and search for specific destinations.
– In February 2019, Live View, which uses augmented reality to help users understand which way to walk, came with a clear overlay with arrows and directions.
Augmented reality in Google Maps helps users reach their destination