Google’s Map Maker service, which was suspended in early May after a number of unfortunate edits were allowed through will re-open next month.
In a statement on the Google Map Maker product forum, Pavithra Kanakarajan, Lead the product management of Map Maker team announced the service will be re-opened, but will see moderation of edits from their highly involved mapping community.
As part of the announcement, Knakarajan advised that Google is currently looking for ‘Regional Leads’ within the maps community to oversee edits in their area, with edits being reviewed by both Google’s automated moderation systems and by the Regional Lead themselves, though Google Operators may occasionally interject. Google will approach these regional leads prior to the re-launch.
With a community based editing system in place, Google expects there to be a longer wait between submission of edits and approval, and has asked for patience.
Map Maker is a highly valuable service which keeps Google Maps on top of the mapping game, but there’s definitely a need for more moderation, as shown by the instances which led to the temporary closure of the service. We look forward to more information coming to light soon.
It seems Melbournism will never see Google map transit