Add your local knowledge to the map with Google Map Maker for the United States

googleblog.blogspot.com

12 points·potomak··5 comments

> Before Google Map Maker—a product that enables people to add to and update the map for locations around the world—only 15 percent of the world’s population had detailed online maps of their neighborhoods.

It's like OpenStreetMap doesn't even exist. This is sad, coming from an official Google blog, I don't think it's the good way forward.

Yeah, this aspect of Google Map Maker really annoys me. If you contribute to OpenStreetMap, your contributions are under a much more useful license than if you contribute to Google.

While I agree with what you said, and with the spirit of OSM, be aware of the "network effect" here. Which would you rather have: a million people contributing to (AFAIK) the most widely used online mapping tool, or one hundred people contributing to a more liberally licensed tool?

I read somewhere that all Google products are merely a delivery vehicle for AdSense. With that perspective in mind, Google Maps is not designed to advance the state of online mapping, nor does it have any interest in referring folks to another website.

I realize that sounds a little conspiratorial, and for that I am sorry, but I mean it in a "for your consideration" kind of way.

It's interesting to see how much / what details they store for a street:

Things like: - popularity - surface type - bicycle suitability

Click on details to see all of the data:

http://www.google.com/mapmaker?gw=39&fid=0x89c25886668d8...

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