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Google Shuts Down Map Maker Following Hacks

Posted by samzenpus on from the shutting-it-down dept.

Errorcod3 writes: Google has temporarily shut down Map Maker while it works on a way to stop people from inserting pranks into its maps. A statement from Google explains that the service isn't going away, just shutting down while a new moderation system is worked on. "Given the current state of the system, we have come to the conclusion that it is not fair to any of our users to let them continue to spend time editing. Every edit you make is essentially going to a backlog that is growing very fast," Google's Pavithra Kanakarajan wrote. "We believe that it is more fair to only say that if we do not have the capacity to review edits at roughly the rate they come in, we have to take a pause. We have hence decided to temporarily disable editing across all countries starting Tuesday, May 12, 2015, till we have our moderation system back in action."

6 of 37 comments (clear)

  1. Huh"? by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In what way was this a "hack"?

  2. Because ... crowd source? by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Honestly, isn't this kind of an inherent thing with crowd sourced data?

    It seems kind of dumb to on the one hand think you'll get everyone to help populate your data for free, and on the other hand that you'll get perfectly valid data in all cases.

    Congratulations, you've opened up something as a free for all .. the anarchy, graffiti and pranks are an inherent part of that.

    WTF to corporations think, crowd sourced data would be magically free, lucrative, and error free? Because that would be stupid.

    I rank this as a big giant "no freakin' kidding". This is what happens when you expect the intertubes to make you a commercial product.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    1. Re:Because ... crowd source? by suutar · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I think the usual theory is that good data will overwhelm bad data. The problem is that assumes that the people entering bad data are outnumbered by folks willing to put in the effort to put in good data. Essentially, that those who will add good data for fun outnumber those who will add bad data for fun. Unfortunately that is frequently not true.

      TLDR: there are more assholes than hobbyist cartographers.

    2. Re:Because ... crowd source? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I always suspected Australia wasn't real

    3. Re:Because ... crowd source? by mysidia · · Score: 5, Interesting

      TLDR: there are more assholes than hobbyist cartographers.

      Why not develop a test to detect hobbyist cartographers?

      They could start by requiring would-be submitters to prove their identity and use an Android device to visit the location to prove that they've physically been within the geographical neighborhood in the past 90 days, before they are able to submit edits to an area.

      Next they should have some process by which good editors earn rank, and new users' submissions get reviewed by the community --- of course, whoever reviews them has to be someone who's visited the physical vicinity of the addition / edit.

      If there has been a recent correction requested to the map; they can prompt other users of Google maps who map out a destination or approach an area, to please confirm if there is something wrong with the map.

  3. For the curious... by zawarski · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...a sample... http://gizmodo.com/google-maps...