In a mashup between a location-based service and a good ol’ wiki, Google has launched MapMaker, a new service that lets anyone add details to Map data from selected regions around the world. What’s great about the service is that it utilizes citizens to hyper-localize data collection, making it a much more efficient method of collecting geographic data, increasing its accuracy in the process.
The service allows users to edit pretty much everything from roads to businesses and local points of interest using a trace tool. By tracing new features over satellite images, maps are immediately updated. As of now, maps in the following countries are editable: Cyprus, Iceland, Pakistan, Vietnam, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Bahamas, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Jamaica, Netherlands Antilles, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago.
The MapMaker service was put togther by Bangalore-based Google engineers.
via google latlong (picture credit: cnet, google)