Google continues to reopen Map Maker, bringing it back to 45 countries today including the US. Map Maker was shut down in May after a series of embarrassing user edits began showing up on the public Google Maps. The tool allows anyone to make changes to geography and listings on Google Maps, which is helpful for keeping local maps up to date but leaves a lot of room for abuse. Google’s automated filters clearly weren’t cutting it, so it’s now leaning on community moderators in every area that it reopens to. It’s also disabled one of Map Makers’ shape editing tools, taking away a major method for abusing the system. Map Maker began opening again in a limited fashion earlier this month; with today’s update, over 50 countries are now back online.
Google Map Maker is now online again in over 50 countries
is The Verge’s executive editor. He has covered tech, policy, and online creators for over a decade.
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