Adding roads to Google Maps is a function that has had a big boost in the last year, thanks above all to the implementation of Road Editor for desktop.
The launch of this feature has had various phases, during which it has gone from access to a limited number of users, up to the point of opening the program to all users, not just to Local Guides.
Before to start, a special thanks to @SholaIB , who with3Thousand-roads-add-campaign-2023-TRAC has given a positive impulse by involving many Local Guides in this activity. The goal, which we wanted to achieve in 6 months, was actually achieved in just one month, so the bar has now been raised to 10,000 roads to be added over the next five months. If you help us too weâll make it in two months, what do you think?
Why this post?
To share my personal experience. The ability to add and fix roads in Google Maps is a huge one, and can literally change the lives of millions of Maps users around the world.
Being one of the first âlucky onesâ who had the opportunity to use this new feature, I was able to follow its evolution step by step right from the start. I believe that going through these steps together can help us understand the current state of the program.
In fact, with the increase in the number of users, the system for verifying the contributions sent has also changed which, according to my personal evaluation, seems to have passed from a completely manual system (operators trained for this function verify the edits and release them) to one completely (or almost) automatic, with an algorithm that checks our edits and releases/rejects them. This has completely changed the way I add roads in Maps, trying to find the method that allows the most efficiency in terms of adding roads.
Disclaimer
The following are my personal observations only, and in no way represent a procedure suggested by Google, but simply how, based on my observations, I have changed/adapted my way of contributing.
A bit of history
Since September 2021, when I started using the program, I have been contributing complex edits, trying to add entire city blocks, and in some cases even small villages, with just one edit. I did the same with even very long roads and paths. Since verification takes a long time, I preferred to take fewer points but have edits approved in one shot, instead of adding short sections and, once approved, continuing with a new stretch of road. The roads were generally all approved, even if the verification/approval often took place after a long time. My first roads, added in September 2022, were approved in December, after more than two and a half months.
In December 2021, the approval time was greatly reduced, with roads approved even in less than 24 hours, up to a maximum of 7 days. My feeling is that the team had increased the number of operators. This has greatly facilitated the addition of roads even with complex layouts, as I told in Mapping for Good - New roads in the Earthquake area of Italy
Then apparently the program opened up to a lot more people, and approval times got longer again. However, the percentage of approved edits was very high.
In mid-2022 the evaluation of the edits has apparently been partly passed to an AI. This resulted in a very peculiar situation: Some roads were approved in less than 24 hours, while others seemed to remain âpendingâ forever, and an important part of the edits were rejected immediately.
This has led to a complete overhaul of my personal way of contributing, and thatâs what I want to share with you today.
My suggestions for adding roads efficiently
Again, the following are my personal observations only, and in no way represent a procedure suggested by Google
- Always make sure that the road you are adding is connected to the existing road network. The purpose of a road is to take you from one place to another. A section of road not connected to other roads will most likely be rejected immediately, even if the road is clearly visible from satellite.
- Make edits simple and connected to each other. If you need to add more roads which, even if close together, are not connected to each other, send them with two separate edits
- Evaluate all conditions well before inserting a road. For this example I had the unwitting help of OsamaZaina. Seen from the satellite, if you look at the detail, the road has been prepared but is blocked by piles of debris. This means that the AI will most likely reject this edit. Of course, we can imagine that the satellite images are old, and that the work has continued in the meantime, but how can we know? Very often thatâs not possible, but in this case, I had unexpected help.
When I think of @OSAMA_1 , the first thing that comes to mind is Street View. Adding streets to Street View is his passion, so I went to see if there was a Street View of the area.
Well, incredible to say, but the blue line was there. Well, that often doesnât mean anything, often the blue line is older than the satellite images, but in this case the blue line was just created, and you want to know by whom?
I edited the road. It has not been approved [yet] but Osama deserved the attempt
- Always check the edits approved 2 days ago, to possibly add the missing parts.
Unfortunately, especially if you enter many streets, there is no really easy way to do this. What works best for me is using Google Chromeâs âpage searchâ feature.
- Open Google Maps in Google Chrome
- Make sure you are logged in to your profile
- Select the âYour Contributionsâ tab
- Scroll down to load more contributions into the list
- Activate the search box by pressing CTRL+F simultaneously
- Type âapprovedâ in the search box
- Now press the search arrow up, and start clicking on the roads approved 2 days ago. Click on the edit description and check if there are any roads to add. If yes, go ahead and do it. Attention, if when you go to edit the road just approved does not appear, it means that you have to try again after a day.
- Organize your mapping work methodically. When you find yourself in front of a missing district, or in any case a large area of connected streets, start by defining the limits (for example the external streets) or the main streets. When these are approved, add internal or secondary ones.
- Remember that your roads will initially be evaluated by an AI. If the road appears to have obstacles, or interruptions caused by tree shadows, stop where the interruption begins, and continue from there when the segment you have added is approved. In the last two weeks the recognition of shadows seems to have improved a lot, and now even roads that were not applied up to a month ago now seem to be accepted more easily.
How to find the roads to add?
This is probably the most personal part, where everyone has their own âsecretâ method, but generally the principle is: Explore Google Maps.
The areas of expansion of the cities, the neighborhoods added to the limits of the cities themselves are generally visible with a fairly large zoom, especially due to the difference in color that these areas have.
I wonât say more, but feel free to add your own secrets to increasing road mapping efficiency.
Do you need help, or have questions to ask? Write to them by replying to this post, and we will do our best to help you.
Have a fun
Looking for more?
If you are looking for more advice on adding roads, I recommend that you read this series of posts first:
- How to get rid of that annoying 0 for âRoads addedâ by @JanVanHaver
- Roads for Everyone - Helping others with the New Road Editor
- Correct Road Shapes in Google Maps - âFollow the Blue Lineâ
- Mapping for Good - New roads in the Earthquake area of Italy
- 1000+ roads in Google Maps
- Roads in Google Maps: 2000+ roads later âŚ
- Draw Roads on desktop step by step-Photos by Shola
) and I am on track to reach Level 10 by July of this year.
Some road edits are being approved within 24 hours whereas other same edits (No obstacles) remains pending ââ I too adding roads since 2012 (GMM). GMM was too interesting and edits were auto approved and live to add further segments. After implementation of Road Mapper Tool (Desktop) started but⌠Finally, stopped to road edits. Now, just re-started. Lets, see what happen in coming days. Already following most of tips described by 