Google to shut down Map Maker tool in Google Maps

Google recently announced that the company is shutting down its Map Maker tool, which allowed users to edit information and suggest changes in Google Maps from March, 2017 onward.

Similar features will reportedly be migrated to the main Google Maps app as part of the company’s Local Guides Program. This program rewards people for policing and improving local mapping data for their community by granting access to beta features and gifting Google Drive storage.

Map Maker was started back in 2008 with the aim to crowd-source information from remote areas that Google’s own toolset is not well-equipped to obtain.

However, several issues regarding this feature have risen ever since. For instance in an incident last year, a Map Maker user submitted an elaborate drawing of an Android robot urinating on an Apple logo. This led to Map Maker tool to be temporarily shut down.