Have you ever been frustrated because Google Maps doesn’t have your neighborhood mapped correctly? Well, now you can design missing roads yourself.
Until now, Google Maps users have been able to report the lack of a road, by placing a pin on the map where it should be and sending that information to Google. But the new tool will allow you to edit roads directly, drawing the path they should take and changing their name or other details.
The ability to edit or add roads is now being implemented in the desktop version of Google Maps, so it will work if you are using a MacBook, PC with Windows 10 or Chromebook.
Google says it will be available “in the coming months” in more than 80 countries that can already report missing roads. But it seems that it has not yet reached the UK – we still have the option of reporting the lack of a road, but not of attracting it.
How to draw missing roads in Google Maps
Fortunately, Google provided a video showing how to use the feature and it certainly looks easy. That’s how it works.
To get started, open Google Maps on your desktop or laptop.
Click the menu on the right, scroll down and select “Edit the map”. Then select “Missing road”.
You can now add missing roads or change the route a road takes by drawing lines with the cursor.
You can also add a name for new roads or change an incorrect name on an existing road and change the directionality of the road if it’s a one-way street and Google is wrong.
Of course, these changes will not take effect immediately – that would be chaos. Instead, all updates will be examined first by Google Maps, with this process taking up to seven days.
The new road editing feature is one of three additions to Maps, and Google explained that it is part of using “community-led updates” to help people “make better decisions about what to do and where to go”.
The second new feature is “Photo updates” – which will allow users to share an image of a place on Google Maps, without the need to leave a comment or rating. You can also include a brief description with the photo, making it easier to tell others in your area that a beach is very busy today or that a parking lot is closed, for example.
It will be released in the coming weeks, and users will be able to find these photo updates by clicking on the “Updates” tab when searching for a location on Google Maps.
Finally, Google is encouraging users to leave comments and updates as part of a community challenge.
The pilot scheme will see Android users in the U.S. challenged to add ratings and reviews and confirm information about local businesses. Google says it wants to update a total of 100,000 companies and can test it in other countries later.