Google Maps has launched a desktop map editing tool that allows users to add new or missing roads to the landscape.
This feature, which will take place in the coming months in more than 80 countries, will allow users to add missing roads by drawing lines, renaming roads, realigning or deleting incorrect roads, and reporting if a road is closed.
Just click the side menu button on the Maps main page, click “Edit Map” and select “Missing Road”.
Google added that it will check all contributions before they are published to ensure that the tricksters do not add roads that do not exist.
Google Maps also tries to help local businesses by letting users leave quick photo updates instead of clear reviews.
The technology giant is offering users new ways to edit Maps to ensure that the service “reflects the real world” during the current pandemic.
“Despite the change our world has undergone over the past year, people are relying more than ever on high-quality up-to-date information about places around them – such as whether a nearby restaurant is open or a grocery store. the local has updated hours “, says the company in a blog post.
“We make 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.”
Google is currently asking you to click on the map where the missing road should be and enter its name.
Once the feature is launched, it should be updated, allowing users to draw the missing paths.
To ensure that the tool is not hijacked by fools, and to ensure that suggestions and changes are correct, Google checks for road updates before posting.
The company says it will send an email to the authors about the status of their changes.
Another update announced by the company in the blog post, which will be released “in the coming weeks”, allows users to share photo updates on mobile.
In essence, it allows users to share up-to-date company information and helpful tips by simply uploading a photo.
A photo update would be a recent snapshot of a place with a short description of the text, without the need 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 as they want to their businesses on the Updates tab, as an alternative to writing a review
To leave a photo update, users will need to access the “Updates” tab when looking at a place in Google Maps to see the latest photos that merchants and others have shared.
To add my own update, I 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 on the Updates tab,” says Google.
Google also encourages Maps users to update 100,000 businesses with new photos, reviews, and updates next month.
To do this, users can click the Contribute tab on Google Maps and add ratings, reviews, and information about local businesses they’ve visited, such as a coffee shop or bakery.
Google calls this the “challenge of local love” because it aims to help companies affected by the pandemic.
“We see people showing love and support for local businesses in Google Search and Maps, leaving photos, writing reviews, or updating factual information, such as new store hours,” says Google.
“We want to amplify the same local love with a characteristic we are piloting now.”
This feature works with Local Guides, its community of users who share tips and photos about places in the Maps app, which anyone can join.
Local Guides was launched six years ago and now has 150 million contributors worldwide, Google also revealed in the post.
Since its launch, Local Guides has contributed over 70% of user-generated reviews, photos, and other content to Maps.
Last year, Google celebrated 15 years of Google Maps with the launch of a new and updated design, giving the terrain a “more vibrant”, detailed and more colorful look.
15 YEARS OF GOOGLE MAPS
A photo of Google Maps as it looked when it was launched 15 years ago. Google says service has “redefined what it means to be a map”
– On February 8, 2005, Google Maps was first launched for the desktop as a new solution to help people “get from point A to point B”.
– Just a few months later, Google Earth was launched, bringing 3D views of the planet. Today, Google Earth offers over 36 million square kilometers of high-definition satellite imagery.
– In December 2005, Portland, Oregon, became the first city to use the Transit Trip Planner, helping commuters see public transportation schedules and routes. It started as a standalone product, but was eventually folded into Google Maps.
An early version of Traffic Maps for desktop. Google Maps introduces real-time traffic information for more than 30 U.S. cities two years after launch
– About two years after the launch of Google Maps, the company introduced real-time information about traffic conditions for more than 30 cities in the US.
– On May 29, 2007, Google Street View started. Many of us will remember seeing a Google car driving by capturing images from the streets.
– In November 2007, Maps became mobile. Google has released version 2.0 of Google Maps for mobile, available for Blackberry, Palm and other devices. In 2008, its first Android application was launched, followed by the iOS application in 2012.
Google Trekkers could help fill in the gaps in Google Maps by taking a 360-degree room housed in a backpack on hiking trips
– In 2012 he introduced the Street View Trekker, allowing 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 continue to benefit from Google’s driving directions and search for specific destinations.
– Live View appeared in February 2019, which uses augmented reality to help users understand which way to go, with arrows and clearly overlapping directions.
The augmented reality of Google Maps helps users reach their destination