Community Editing corner...

[jenmazzon]

Dear Mappers,

This sub-group of Map Your World is dedicated to discussions that are
particular to the Community Editing feature of Google Maps. If you
want to connect with other Community Edits users, please post here!
Discussions on any topic related to Community Editing on Google Maps
-- that is, adding or editing points of interest on Google Maps proper
-- are welcome. You are, of course, also welcome to post in the other
Map Your World sub-groups :-)

Cheers,

Jen.

[JAH]

Hi Jen;

Thanks for taking the initiative on starting this.While I have done
close to 3000 edits ( mostly in SF Bay Area) I still find myself
confused by results sometimes and find it hard to figure out the
correct terminology to use when reporting an error.

Regards,
Jim

[jenmazzon]

Dear Jim,

Please post some of the details and let's discuss!

Cheers,

Jen.

[Lior Ron]

Jim, welcome to our community forums! we're very excited to finally have a place for editors on maps to discuss their experience, please do write about your experience and challenges, we're eager to hear!

Lior.

[JAH]

Hi Jen,
(LOL)

I wasn't expecting a response in ten minutes!
First, can I assume that you represent Google in some fashion?
One of the first things I think would be useful is to create a
glossary of terms for the things displayed on the map. For instance;
what do you call those red teardrops that show a location, how about
the red circles that seem to be undefined locations? There are labels
on the map itself which come and go depending on the magnification,
are they called overlays? Are there designations for these levels? How
can they be edited? Define a "point of interest" I could go on but I
would like to hear other opinions, or whether I'm the only one so bone-
headed that I don't understand it.

Regards,

Jim

[jenmazzon]

:-)

Yes indeed, I'm on the Google Maps team with Lior as well! When I post
on this group there's supposed to be a little badge denoting my
"official" role in the community, but it seems a bit flaky at times.
At any rate, your suggestion for a glossary of terms is a good one.
Such a glossary would probably go best in the Maps User Guide:
http://maps.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=guide.cs&guide=21670&topic=21671&answer=144349

I'll pass along that feedback to the team...in the meantime, would you
care to collaborate on a glossary with us? We could use a shared
Google Doc...

Cheers,

Jen.

[Jonathan]

Jen,

Thanks for adding this sub-group! I'm new to Google Groups so I hope
I'm asking this in the right place...

I'm a bit of a roadgeek and since the "Report a Problem" feature
debuted, I've been going around places I know, trying to fix misnamed
roads, missing ramps and such. I got a couple of updates this morning,
however, with the text: "We're currently unable to address issues of
this type. We will keep your report and hope to do more to improve our
map data in future." The reports were for sections of highway that
have been upgraded to freeway with interchanges and an interchange
that had been rebuilt differently. I included links to the official
DOT pages for the projects that included detailed plans of the new
roadways. Is there a better way to report these sorts of problems? Or
maybe you could describe the process of how the maps get updated?
Thanks for your help!

- Jon Kleinow

On Dec 15, 10:42 am, jenmazzon <jenmaz...@google.com> wrote:
> :-)
>
> Yes indeed, I'm on the Google Maps team with Lior as well! When I post
> on this group there's supposed to be a little badge denoting my
> "official" role in the community, but it seems a bit flaky at times.
> At any rate, your suggestion for a glossary of terms is a good one.

> Such a glossary would probably go best in the Maps User Guide:http://maps.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=guide.cs&guide=2167...

[JenMazz]

Dear Jon,

Can you please send me the issue IDs for which you received those
"unable to fix" updates and I'll get them relooked at?

Cheers,

Jen.

[Jonathan]

Thanks for your help! The IDs are AFE0-1EC5-7BE5-F49F and
607F-4DF7-8670-F1AF. When I reported them, I included links to PDF
files from the DOTs with plans of the roadwork.

I guess what I'm wondering is what is the best way to let Google know
about new road projects and upgrades? For example, there's a new
freeway that's being built in St. Louis County. The plans are
available now from the state and county highway departments, but the
road won't open until sometime in 2012. Is there a way to add the
necessary data now and have it go live once the highway has been
opened? What's the best way to coordinate information between the DOTs
and Google Maps?

In a recent chat on STLToday.com with a MoDOT representative, she
complained that in the months before a stretch of major highway was
rebuilt, the online mapping and GPS companies she contacted weren't
very interested in hearing about the changes, but when the freeway was
about to open they were all of a sudden contacting her and wanted to
know about the project. While I obviously don't know the details about
how roads get updated and what is involved in doing that, it seems
like it should be easier than it is to update construction changes,
especially on major freeways in major metro areas. I'm thinking of
I-64 between I-270 and Kingshighway in St. Louis, which, despite being
open for a month and despite having the plans available for years,
still shows the old ramps and interchanges.

Thanks again for your help.

- Jon

[Abhishek]

Hi,

Some of my added features have been Reviewed & approved by "Google Moderator Madhu" "Google Reviewer Sabby" "Google Moderator ana". So i want to know whether these are Google employee or any outsider like me. One more thing i would like to ask why some member's name appear with G logo?

Thanks,
Abhishek

[Adam Lasnik]

Hi Abhishek,

Yes, the folks you've noted are all Google moderators.

And in the forum, all posters with a G logo next to their name -- like Jen Mazzon in the thread above -- are Google employees (at the time of their posting).

Regards,

Adam