In another round of “this is why we can’t have nice things”, Google has decided to stop allowing users to edit stuff via its Map Maker. This is due to the fact that there have been a lot of “pranks” (otherwise known as people with too much time on their hands) in the edits that some users have been making, including an Android mascot peeing on an Apple logo, among others.
In the official statement from one of the team members of Map Maker, Pavithra Kanakarajan, said that due to the “escalated attacks” they’ve been experiencing the past months, which they claim is in order to spam Google Maps, they’ve decided to suspend the auto-approval and user moderation feature in Map Maker. However, if they do a manual editing and approval process, you can just imagine the backlog and the amount of time it will take to have your legit edits approved. \\
So they have come to the conclusion that instead of making users wait for forever, and until they get to the point where they come up with “more intelligent mechanisms”, they will be disabling editing in all countries where Map Maker is available, starting May 12. They assure users however that this will just be “a temporary situation” and that they are working on improving their capabilities on dealing with the expected backlog due to manual reviews.
This news is kind of a bummer, especially as a lot of users are pretty helpful when it comes to correcting and adding geographical features that are based on their actual, local knowledge. But it looks like a necessary decision, as those who are intent on doing stupid things on the Internet have beaten us once again.
VIA: SlashGear
