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Google To Reopen Maps To User Edits, With an Anti-Abuse Plan

Posted by timothy on from the only-advanced-trolls-need-apply dept.

jfruh writes: When Google opened up its Maps to user edits, a lot of useful information got added — along with plenty of spam and outright abuse, some of it obscene, which led to the program being shut down. Now the company is planning to reopen things to user input, recruiting local mappers that they're calling "regional leads" to filter out problematic content.

28 comments

  1. Great plan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Reddit, but with maps! It'll be web 3.0, totally coded in in HTML5.

    1. Re:Great plan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gotta love the idea guys - http://thedailywtf.com/article...

    2. Re:Great plan by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 3, Insightful

      >> Reddit, but with maps

      My first thought was "Wikipedia, with maps" (Shudder)

    3. Re:Great plan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They already have that, it's called Wikimapia.

      Like Wikipedia, it has a lot of useful crowd-sourced information that you might not get from a map produced by a central authority, but also like Wikipedia, it also has its fair share of vandalism and misinformation.

  2. I'm sure it will be well paid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm sure it will be well paid

  3. Bring back Classic Google Maps! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Don't care about user edits.

    Bring back the old interface.

    The new interface gets in the way of so much. The "Classic Google Maps" was a well designed interface that worked really really well. Except for one thing: when you clicked to search on something it didn't automatically give you a search result for a place on the map that you could see. I'm sure that didn't help Google make money as much as the new one does.

    The "New Google Maps feedback" has obviously been ignored because Google have not responded to any of the issues that they listed but users continue to ask for it. I wonder why?

    A tip for how to go to your mapping website of choice:
    1) Start with www.google.com
    2) Enter into the search bar "bing maps" or "mapquest"
    3) Click on the link to go to Bing Maps or Mapquest

    1. Re:Bring back Classic Google Maps! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The new Google Maps is the worst. It is so incredibly irritating to use, mostly because of that fucking box that is constantly re-sizing itself.

      Google will NOT listen to your feedback. You're not the customer.

      Try this (make a bookmark with the JavaScript):
      http://pastebin.com/7uTJ0m29

    2. Re:Bring back Classic Google Maps! by houghi · · Score: 1

      As with so many classic layouts, I am sure this will be disabled as well.

      Not only do they not want you to use the old layout, they are activaly going out of their way of blocking it one by one.
      So not even everything together, they just notice one thing is used and then it is blocked so everybody goes on to the next one.

      But what did we expect from google when you saw how they raped dejanews.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    3. Re:Bring back Classic Google Maps! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Google will NOT listen to your feedback. You're not the customer.

      No, you don't buy from Google, you provide their goods.
      If you stop delivering then Google has no choice than to listen to you if they want to keep their customers happy.

    4. Re:Bring back Classic Google Maps! by wbr1 · · Score: 1

      More annoying is the auto crap textured fake 3d in satellite view. Please let me turn that off and not have 4 polygon tree tops blocking my view.

      --
      Silence is a state of mime.
    5. Re:Bring back Classic Google Maps! by QuasiSteve · · Score: 1

      Having recently run into this, use &force=webgl or &force=canvas in the URL to enable/disable that.
      More details:
      https://productforums.google.c...

      But yes, this really should be a switch/checkbox/radiobuttons/something..somewhere.

  4. C'mon supporter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    make us rich without getting a penny.

    1. Re:C'mon supporter by houghi · · Score: 1

      We already do that by being their product.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  5. Bout damn time! by Cyfun · · Score: 1

    There are some new footpaths in my area that I haven't been able to add, and it's been driving me nuts!

    --
    In Soviet Russia, dot slashes YOU!
    1. Re: Bout damn time! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Add them to openstreetmap instead. That way we can all benefit from it, notnjust Google.

    2. Re: Bout damn time! by Infiniti2000 · · Score: 2

      OSM has similar issues. People who add to OSM are often morons about what they add. Creating new types like "yes" instead of using actual types. Translators from OSM to something more useful like a file geodatabase or shapefiles often get the geometry wrong, too. For example, creating a linear lake (the perimeter) rather than a more appropriate polygon. So, OSM has significant issues when trying to use it for non-casual purposes. On the other hand, it is generally the most complete set and that can help account for its gross deficiencies.

    3. Re:Bout damn time! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sadly I've found I need to edit Google Maps to keep their errors from spilling over into OpenStreetMap.

  6. The last people we need by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The last people we need institutionalizing a citizen-based informational bureaucracy is Google.

    1. Re:The last people we need by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The last people we need institutionalizing a citizen-based informational bureaucracy is Google.

      YES! Leave it to the proles!

  7. Was this obscene? by wbr1 · · Score: 1
    http://thenextweb.com/google/2...

    Personally I have been lobbying my city council to put in a park/greenspace shaped like this.

    --
    Silence is a state of mime.
  8. Did they improved the GUI? by martiniturbide · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Compared to OpenStreetMap.org the Google Maps GUI to include elements and areas was falling behind. Did anybody knows if the GUi was improved on the last months?

    1. Re:Did they improved the GUI? by MrL0G1C · · Score: 1

      I won't be making any amendments, the last times I amended incorrect info, Google switched straight back to the wrong info.

      Why bother?

      --
      Waterfox - a Firefox fork with legacy extension support, security updates and better privacy by default.
  9. Hey, just like Wikipedia! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm sure that will turn out wonderful!

  10. Why can't they... by monkeyxpress · · Score: 1

    ...just hire people in each region to enter map data? This is a company that makes 50 billion in revenue. I just don't get how they can be so stingy with collecting data for their mapping service so they can spy on me. It's the same with Apple. How can they release a mapping platform and not even bother to hire someone in London to check that all the stations on the Northern line were there.

    1. Re:Why can't they... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who says Apple didn't hire someone in London to find all the stations? They had to have got that station shape and entrance data from somewhere (and no one else seems to have it). Which northern line station is missing?

  11. Frist strete! by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 0

    'Nuff said...

    --
    That is all.
  12. Oh I see... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So basically they are still using a manual moderation system, but instead of paid Google employees the moderators will be unpaid volunteers. The sharing economy, ladies and gentlemen!

    1. Re:Oh I see... by Chuq · · Score: 2

      Why would someone contribute to copyrighted Google Maps for free, and let a company claim copyright over all of their contributions, and make money on it - as opposed to the open licensed OpenStreetMap, which anyone can use freely?

      --
      - Chuq