Google will retire Map Maker in order to speed up Maps editing process

Google Map Maker was announced in order to encourage users to submit geographical and business changes

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Google has announced that it will retire Map Maker and bundle its features into Maps by March 2017. Google had announced Map Maker tool as a parallel version to official Maps app in April 2011. Google says it is retiring the service in order to speed up the process of Maps editing.

Google had envisioned Map Maker as a tool for encouraging users to submit geographical and business changes. The user submitted changes would eventually be bundled into official app after moderators approved the change. Lately the Map Maker tool has been used for vandalising maps and posting mischievous content. In early 2015, Google even took down the tool for a brief moment before relaunching it with new moderation procedures.

Google states that edits made in Map Maker won't be up for moderation. The search giant plans to transfer most, but not all of the tools available with Maps Maker.

It is unclear how Google plans to handle moderation for local guides but the company has decided to restrict edits to the guides. With Map Maker being shut down, Google essentially ends any chance of vulgar joke landing on Maps but how well it integrates with Maps needs to be seen.