Google Map Maker is back and recruiting moderators

Google Map Maker will be reopening for business in early August and in order to prevent any of the cartographic mischief that forced Google to withdraw the tool for a while, it is recruiting moderators.

Google was forced to shutter Map Maker earlier this year due to vandalism on maps that revealed its approvals process to be somewhat lacking. While some of the vandalism was pretty funny, it wasn't clever, and Google realised it had to rethink how it effectively crowdsourced edits for Maps.

The wait is over and Map Maker will be back online within a matter of weeks. In the meantime, Google is looking for people within the Map Maker community to police edits made within specific countries. Country-specific moderators seem like a wise move given the political nature of maps and the opportunities the editing tools present to potentially be culturally insensitive or offensive.

"The reason for this change is that every time we observed someone attempting to vandalise the map, many of you acted quickly to remove the offending feature and demonstrated real ownership for maps within your region. We have come to the conclusion that of all the defenses available to keeping our maps clean, the interest of a community of well-intentioned users, is among the most reliable and fast," explained Google's Pavithra Kanakarajan in a blog post.

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Kanakarajan added that users can expect Map Maker to be reopened in phases, and pleads for patience among the community due to the fact edits will be moderated more slowly than they have been in the past. "We thank all of you for the patience and continued support you have shown during this period.  We're grateful for the strong sense of ownership the community has demonstrated in keeping our maps clean and up-to-date," she said.