How the Knowledge of Locals Is Helping Google Build Better Maps
The company is recruiting millions of users to update its maps and add more detailed—and more subjective—information.
Remember when maps just showed you what a place looked like? It’s hard to imagine now, but in the mid-2000s that’s basically how it was, before smartphone map apps came along to tell you where to turn, where traffic was backing up, or where to grab a latte en route to your destination.
People’s expectations of what information a map can provide have become incredibly detailed, says Jack Menzel, product management director for local search at Google, one of the companies driving the evolution of maps. Now, when people search for a pharmacy or pull it up on Google Maps, they expect to see its hours, and not just its regular hours, but the holiday hours too. “People have this expectation
