Google has re-opened its Map Maker tool in more than 50 countries. The Internet giant has new protections in place to fight vandalism.
The company launched Map Maker in June 2008 to allow people in different parts of the world to contribute information to Google's worldwide map.
In April, Google removed some user-created Map Maker content over vandalism issues. Google also disabled user moderation and auto-approval on May 8. The Map Maker team then announced that user editing will be temporarily paused from May 12.
Google reinstated Map Maker in India, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Philippines, Canada and Brazil on Aug. 10. On Monday, Aug. 24, the company confirmed that the tool has been re-opened in another 45 countries including the U.S.
"As part of the second phase of Map Maker's reopening, 45 more countries are open for editing starting today," said Pavithra Kanakarajan, product manager of Google Map Maker.
To ensure that the Map Maker tool is not used for vandalism, Google has made some changes to the product. Each country will have "Regional Leads" who will moderate their regions to ensure that only legitimate map edits or modifications are approved.
It is very important that an appropriate modification is approved as millions of people around the, who access Google Maps on a regular basis, will be able to view any approved changes.
The Regional Leads will be selected by Google based on the quality of past contribution made to Map Maker or Google Maps.
If the automated system is unable to establish if something is wrong with an edit, it will also send the edits to a Google employee for review.
Another major change taken by Google to stop vandalism in Map Maker is disabling polygon editing temporarily.
"We have temporarily disabled the ability to add or edit geometries of polygons. You will, however, be able to edit other attributes such as names on polygonal features," added Kanakarajan.
Polygons on a Google Map are the shaded areas that signify mountainous regions, forests, parks and more. These areas were used by vandals in the past for creating an Android Robot image urinating on an Apple logo.
Visit Map Maker to check if the service has re-opened in your region.
