[ad_1]
Google Maps has launched a desktop map editing tool that allows users to add new or missing roads to the landscape.
This feature, which will be rolled out over the next few months to more than 80 countries, will allow users to add missing roads by drawing lines, renaming roads, realigning or deleting incorrect roads, and reporting if a road is closed.
All they need to do is click on the side menu button on the Maps home page, click on “Edit map” and select “Missing road”.
Google added that it will check all posts before they are published to make sure pranksters aren’t adding routes that don’t exist.
Google Maps is also trying to help local businesses by allowing users to leave quick photo updates instead of wordy reviews.
The tech giant is offering users new ways to modify maps to ensure service “ reflects the real world ” during the current pandemic.
“ With all the changes our world has undergone over the past year, people trust high-quality, up-to-date information about the places around them more than ever before – as if a nearby restaurant is open. or if a local grocery store has updated the hours, ” the firm said in a blog post.
“We make it easy for anyone with a Google Account to share their local knowledge of over 200 million places on Google Maps.
“These community-driven updates are helping people around the world make better decisions about what to do and where to go.
Currently, Google asks you to click on the map where the missing road should be and enter its name.
Once the feature is deployed, it needs to be updated, allowing users to draw the missing roads.
To make sure the tool isn’t hijacked by pranksters and to make sure the suggestions and changes are accurate, Google checks for updates out of the way before releasing them.
The company says it will email authors about the status of their changes.
Another update announced by the company in the blog post, which will roll out “ in the coming weeks, ” allows users to share photo updates on their mobile.
Essentially, it allows users to share up-to-date business information and helpful tips by simply uploading a photo.
A photo update would be a recent snapshot of a place with a short text description, without the need to leave a long comment or rating.
This will help other Google Maps users to “find and share experiences” with recent photos.
Google Maps users can upload as many photos as they want to businesses under the Updates tab, instead of writing a review
To leave a photo update, users will need to go to the “Updates” tab when viewing a location in Google Maps to see the latest photos that merchants and others have shared.
To add their own update, they can tap ‘download photo update’, select photos, leave a short description, and then post.
“You can post as many photos as you want and find updates to photos others have left on the Updates tab,” Google says.
Google is also encouraging Maps users to update 100,000 businesses with new photos, reviews and updates next month.
To do this, users can click the Contribute tab in Google Maps and add ratings, reviews, and information about local businesses that have been visited, such as a cafe or bakery.
Google calls this the “local love challenge” because it aims to help businesses affected by the pandemic.
“We see people showing their love and support for local businesses in Google Search and on Maps by leaving photos, writing reviews, or updating factual information like new store hours.” , explains Google.
“We want to amplify that same local love with a feature that we are currently testing.
This feature works with Local Guides, its community of users who share tips and photos of places on the Maps app, which anyone can join.
Local Guides was launched six years ago and now has 150 million contributors worldwide, Google also revealed in the post.
Since its launch, Local Guides have contributed over 70% of reviews, photos and other types of user-generated content on Maps.
Google celebrated 15 years of Google Maps last year with the launch of an updated new design, making the terrain appear “ more vibrant ”, detailed and colorful.
[ad_2]
Source link