Google Maps is one of the most useful apps from the company, it could give you directions from any two points by several transportation modes. While driving it gives turn-by-turn navigation guided by voice and it even lets you choose a route based on the traffic. Some other useful features of the apps include Street View, which lets you see the actual surroundings of a certain place and there are some reviews available for certain places. Map Maker was a tool that allowed users to make changes on the maps as they noticed them, such as new roads or places. After some distasteful images were spotted that were created with this tool, Google didn’t allow users to make the changes anymore.
A few weeks later, the company stated that this tool would be available once again sometime in August, but it would change the way the changes got approved. Now, Google has shared all the new guidelines for the Map Maker. The tool is reopening today, but only a limited number of countries will get to edit their maps, six to be precise, including Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, India, Philippines and Ukraine. The new system works this way: those users that have shown interest in editing the maps to improve them will become “Regional Leads” and they will be able to moderate the changes submitted by other users. The ability to edit polygons or geometrical elements has been temporarily disabled, but names and other attributes on these shapes could still be updated.
Google’s automated moderation system will still check the changes made on the tool, and a few of them will be moderated by Google operators. Changes will take more time to appear in the actual map and Regional Leads will be able to contact the users that submitted those changes in case those need to be reviewed. If you’re interested in becoming a Regional Lead, you could fill out the form in the source. This system will probably be implemented worldwide, but there’s no specific timeframe on when will the Map Maker be available in more regions, the company just said to expect it in the coming weeks.