Google Map Maker

Using the find or browse tools, contributors were able to add and draw features directly onto a map where the borders had already been drawn, and could add features such as roads, railways, rivers and so on. In addition, users could add specific buildings and services onto the map such as local businesses and services.

Three kinds of drawing tools were available: placemark (a single point of interest on the map), line (for drawing roads, railways, rivers, and the like) and polygon (for defining boundaries and borders, adding parks, lakes and other large features). The approach encouraged by users and by Google was to trace features such as roads from the existing satellite imagery. This approach was not useful in areas with poor satellite imagery, and users consequently created less map data in those areas.

New users' contributions were moderated by more experienced users or reviewers at Google to ensure quality and prevent vandalism. As users made more successful contributions, their edits were less closely monitored and may have been published on the map straight away. Certain larger features may have taken a long time to appear on the map as they were waiting to be rendered by the server.

Contributors could assign areas of the map as their 'neighbourhood', that is an area they know well enough to make detailed contributions to. Users could also moderate the contributions of others within their neighbourhood. This information was private; the neighbourhood a user selected was not publicly associated with the users' account.{{cite web |url=http://www.google.com/mapmaker/pulse |title=Google Map Maker |access-date=11 April 2013}}

As of 6 March 2016, the service was available in Bangladesh, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark (not including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, Nepal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Taiwan, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, Venezuela, and Vietnam.{{cite web|title=Countries being mapped|url=https://support.google.com/mapmaker/answer/155415?hl=en|website=Map Maker Help|access-date=24 August 2015}}

In April 2015, Google removed user-created Map Maker content that showed an "Android robot urinating on the Apple logo" and a separate feature saying "Google review policy is crap", after they were discovered on Google Maps.{{cite news|last1=Hern|first1=Alex|title=Google Maps hides an image of the Android robot urinating on Apple|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/apr/24/google-maps-hides-an-image-of-the-android-robot-pissing-on-apple|access-date=10 May 2015|work=The Guardian|date=24 April 2015}} Following the "large scale prank", Google disabled auto-approval and user moderation, and on 8 May, the Map Maker team announced that editing would be temporarily disabled worldwide as of 12 May 2015.{{cite web | title= Google suspends Map Maker because of vandalism|url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-32704566 |date= 12 May 2015 | website= BBC News | access-date= 12 May 2015}}{{cite news|last1=Kanakarajan|first1=Pavithra|title=Map Maker will be temporarily unavailable for editing starting May 12, 2015|url=https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/map-maker/news-and-announcements/crFEbGXJ-HI|access-date=10 May 2015|publisher=Google Product Forums|date=8 May 2015}}

Google reenabled the service in six countries in August 2015, with plans to enable in other countries in the following weeks.{{cite web|last1=Kanakarajan|first1=Pavithra|title=Map Maker will be enabled in six countries starting today|url=https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/map-maker/JeAFzDcTFfQ|website=Google Product Forums|publisher=Alphabet Inc.|access-date=16 August 2015}} On 10 August, editing was re-opened to Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, India, the Philippines, and Ukraine; Google relied on regional moderators to review edits as an extra precaution, in addition to automated and human moderation.{{cite web |url=http://searchengineland.com/google-map-maker-back-up-in-six-countries-more-to-follow-227473 |title=Google Map Maker Back Up In Six Countries With More To Follow Soon |last=Sterling |first=Greg |work=Search Engine Land |date=10 August 2015 |access-date=10 August 2015}} On 26 August, Google Map Maker re-opened to 45 more countries.{{cite web |url=https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2490133,00.asp |title=Google Map Maker Back in Action in U.S. |author=Moscaritolo, Angela |work=PC Magazine |date=August 26, 2015 |access-date=August 26, 2015}}

Map Maker required contributors to grant Google a "... perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display, distribute, and create derivative works of the User Submission".[http://www.google.com/mapmaker/mapfiles/s/terms_mapmaker.html Terms of Service for Google Map Maker] While Google provided a form to request Map Maker data downloads,{{cite web|title=Map Maker Data Download|url=https://services.google.com/fb/forms/mapmakerdatadownload/|access-date=22 January 2012|archive-date=23 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223003732/https://services.google.com/fb/forms/mapmakerdatadownload/|url-status=dead}} it provided no programmatic access to data. There were expressions of concern that Google was taking advantage of open communities,{{cite web|last=Maron|first=Mikel|title=We Need to Stop Google's Exploitation of Open Communities|url=http://brainoff.com/weblog/2011/04/11/1635|publisher=Brainoff|access-date=22 January 2012|archive-date=15 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120115103706/http://brainoff.com/weblog/2011/04/11/1635|url-status=dead}} and large contributors to Map Maker, such as the World Bank's project partnering with Google, were viewed critically.{{cite web|last=Fitzpatrick|first=Alex|title=Google Maps & World Bank Join Forces, So Why Isn't Everyone Smiling?| date=20 January 2012 |url=http://mashable.com/2012/01/19/google-maps-world-bank/|publisher=Mashable|access-date=22 January 2012}}{{cite web|last=Heller|first=Nathaniel|title=Why We're Worried about Google's Deal with the World Bank | date=18 January 2012 |url=http://www.globalintegrity.org/blog/google-world-bank-map-deal|publisher=Global Integrity|access-date=23 January 2012}}

• Yandex Map Editor
• Mapping Bangladesh
• Here Map Creator
• OpenStreetMap
• Wikimapia

{{reflist|30em}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://mapmaker.google.com/mapmaker Google Map Maker website] (archived)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/*/sites.google.com/site/mapmakerpedia/ Google Map Makerpedia] (archived)

{{Google Maps navbox}}

{{Google LLC}}

{{Volunteered geographic information}}

Category:Crowdsourcing

Maker

Map Maker

Category:Web Map Services

Category:2008 software

Category:Internet properties established in 2008

Category:Internet properties disestablished in 2017

Map Maker