After pranksters used Google Map Maker to draw an Android peeing on an Apple Logo and engage in other acts of spammy vandalism, Google has announced that it will temporarily shut down its online map editor while it rethinks its approval process.
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But how did prank images get onto the real Google Maps? Doesn't Google have some kind of approval process? It does, but that process relies on trust. Map Maker edits are done in a sandbox, which users can use to test and save map drafts. When a new user saves an edit, it goes into a queue for manual approval. Once approved, an edit shows up on the public Google Maps and can be seen by everyone.
After a certain amount of approvals, though, active users become "trusted" and their map edits get auto-approved and fast-tracked to Google Maps. In the official statement, Google says that the user who created the "most recent incident" was "a strong user in our community," indicating that the person most likely had auto-approval privileges and suddenly went rogue. One of the recent changes carved "Google review policy is crap" into the map, suggesting the user wanted to make some kind of statement.
Map Maker had more of a filter than Wikipedia, which has no approval process at all and relies on other users to revert malicious edits and ban users.
Google's apology says that Google has been "analyzing the problem and [has] made several changes" but that "fixing some of this is actually going to take longer than a few days."
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