There's some pretty impressive mistakes and assertions in this article (copied below), in particular:
* "Many of us have also been tricked by faulty or falsified information on Wikipedia, which is edited by users who are often tempted into leading others astray."
* "Originally, Wikipedia allowed anyone to update its entries" ... "In 2009, it was forced to recruit 20,000 editors to stop falsification of entries."
With the launch of the new Map Maker application in the US, Google Maps can be edited by anybody, putting a question mark on the reliability of its content
New York: Almost all of us have been tricked by a faulty GPS into taking a wrong turn, driving down a dead end road, in extreme cases even driving into rivers or to the edge of cliffs. Many of us have also been tricked by faulty or falsified information on Wikipedia, which is edited by users who are often tempted into leading others astray.
Now, Google is set to combine both dangers into one with the launch of Map Maker in the US, reports Daily Mail. Map Maker is a web-based application that allows users to edit Google Maps using their own local knowledge of an area. It takes advantage of crowd-sourcing to map the parts
of the world that even Google can’t get to.
Crowd outsourcing
“You know your neighbourhood or hometown best,” Google Map Maker tech lead Lalitesh Katragadda and product manager Manik Gupta said in a blog post. “With Google Map Maker, you can ensure the places you care about are richly represented on the map. For example, you can fix the name of your local pizza parlour, or add a description of your favourite book store.”
Users are also encouraged to add bike lanes, walking paths, secret shortcuts, parking lots, and any other details they can think of using Map Maker.
The suggestions are set to be reviewed before being published. “After approval, the edits will appear in Google Maps within minutes — dramatically speeding up the time it takes for online maps to reflect the often-changing physical world,” the blog post read.
Wikipedia controversies
Originally, Wikipedia allowed anyone to update its entries. But a series of malicious incidents — including changes to George W Bush’s page that saw it having to be corrected an incredible 40,000 times, and an entry giving former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s middle name as ‘Whoop de doo’ — soon forced the site to rethink its policy.In 2009, it was forced to recruit 20,000 editors to stop falsification of entries.
Review of changes
Map Maker, perhaps learning from that lesson, is set to review changes before they are published. How exactly the changes will be reviewed, however, remains largely undefined. When MailOnline tested the app, changes appeared to be subject to review by other users.
It was not clear how many users were needed to approve or deny a change before it was published, but Google promises that changes will appear ‘within minutes’. A request for more detail on the vetting process has not yet been answered.
Already up and running
Map Maker is already running in 183 countries around the world. Despite concerns, it is being hailed as a cartographical revolution, allowing some of the world’s remotest places to be mapped in a medium available to the masses for the very first time.
It also allows for a level of detail — for example, of college campuses — that simply would not be available on conventional maps. “Map Maker users have mapped entire cities, road networks and universities that were never previously recorded online,” the blog post bragged.
“These contributions have been incorporated into Google Maps and Google Earth, so the collective expertise of the Map Maker community benefits the millions of people using these products globally.”
Those who have Google Earth can also watch mapping in real time by others around the world using the application.