Google brings Map Maker back to the United States and 44 other countries

Back in April, a “clever” Google Map Maker user submitted an image of an Android logo urinating on an Apple logo to Google Maps, which forced Google to apologize for the inappropriate incident soon after. To ensure this kind of thing never happened again, Google shut down the Map Maker program in May so it could revamp the way users could submit their entries.

As promised, Google then relaunched the service a few weeks ago, but only in a few select markets. Now the service is seeing a much wider expansion, as the United States, along with 44 other countries, are now able to make edits and submissions in Map Maker.

Just like with the first wave of countries, Map Maker is a bit more closed off now. Every edit will need to be approved by a “regional lead”. As Google puts it, “[Regional Leads] are users who have demonstrated a clear interest in mapping their areas and will be helpful in moderating edits made by you.” This means that edits will likely take much longer to be published.

Google also says that the company has temporarily disabled the ability to add or edit geometries of polygons. Users can still edit other attributes like names on polygonal features, though. At this time, there’s no word as to when this feature will be turned back on.

To see if your country has been added to the Map Maker list, visit google.com/mapmaker.