Enjoying Google Map Maker

I am officially enjoying Google Map Maker now.

Google Map Maker is Google’s crowd-sourcing tool to gather geographical information and turn them to maps. Google Map Maker was launched in the Philippines October of last year. Due to the positive response to the product, Google deployed Map Maker data in the Philippines to Google Maps.

I always loved the idea of crowd-sourcing (like Wikipedia, Yahoo! Answers, etc). There are other similar online tools out there such as OpenStreetMap and Wikimapia. My only problem with OpenStreetMap is that their default editor doesn’t have satellite imagery which makes it hard to point areas of interest or identify location of roads unless you have GPS. Wikimapia, though, uses Google’s imagery but their moderation scheme is not good at all. I find it very prone to vandals.

Google Map Maker, on the other hand, has a good moderation and trust algorithm which makes it less prone to vandalism. Chances are MOST vandals get approved. A new user editing a mature or large structure such as major road could be subject to moderation, but a user with very high reputation won’t.

Another (I think) new feature they had was Directions. On Google Maps, Directions doesn’t work YET in the Philippines but I hope they’ll make it available in the near future. But in Google Map Maker, it’s working pretty well. Here’s the sample directions from our apartment at Esteban Abada to the Quezon City Memorial Circle (where we rappel for CWTS).

Nifty, huh? I think they’re not deploying it yet to Google Maps since some big roads such as the one’s in Katipunan aren’t yet well-defined in terms of flow of traffic. Most people know that there are designated U-turn slots in the area but Google Map Maker assumes that one can make a maneuver at any junction. Feeding Map Maker better data would make routing more accurate.

I encourage everyone to try using Google Map Maker and map your neighborhood. It’s always easier to map your neighborhood, unless you have a really lazy ass that you stay in front of your computer 24/7. All you need is a Google account and enthusiasm.

See you on Map Maker!

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