Google Makes It Easier to Add Places and Suggest Changes in Maps

HIGHLIGHTS

• Users get a 'Suggest an edit' option in Maps and search result cards
• Google allows option to 'Add a missing place' on dropping a pin in Maps
• Users can now add specific additional information about various locations

Google has now made it easier for you to add places or suggest edits in Google Maps on your Android or iOS devices, or via Google Search results, by rolling out the functionality worldwide. The aim is to further crowdsource the information about businesses and landmarks across the world, so that users have access to updated information.

Now, Google Search results with a Knowledge Graph about a location and Google Maps location cards will contain the option to 'Suggest an edit'. If you drop a pin in Maps, you have the option to 'Add a missing place'.

Apart from these additions, the search giant wants to provide a "deeper understanding of places", and allows users to share more details about a location via Google Maps for Android. For example, now you can add specific things like the kind of vibe that a place has, or the kind of food that a place serves.

Of course, since the ability to suggest information about a location could be misused - for example by a rival business - Google has decided to use crowd verification for the suggested edits to appear on Maps and Search results.

If a place has suggested edits that are pending, users will be notified and will also be given the ability to verify them. Once any suggested edit reaches the desired number of verifications, it will start showing up on Google Maps. Users can verify information on Google Maps for Android, as well as via mobile search on Android and iOS devices.

Announcing the new features in a blog post, Google Maps and Local Search Product Manager, Nirav Mehta, said, "Together, these new changes let people who are familiar with their neighborhoods help provide accurate, reliable information about their favorite haunts and hidden gems. So now when searching for useful information about a place on Google Maps or Search, you'll get an even better representation of the ever-changing world around us."

Google has been making several additions to its Maps app and just last month, it updated its Android version to allow navigation to multiple destinations.