Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




EARTH OBSERVATION
Mischief makers prompt Google to halt public map edits
by Staff Writers
San Francisco (AFP) May 11, 2015


Google on Monday said it is sidelining its crowd-sourced map making tool to implement a way to prevent bogus edits, some of which have proven embarrassing.

The Map Maker service will be "temporarily unavailable" beginning Tuesday, according to a message posted online.

"As some of you know already, we have been experiencing escalated attacks to spam Google Maps over the past few months," Pavithra Kanakarajan of the Map Maker team said in a written explanation of the decision.

"The most recent incident was particularly troubling and unfortunate -- a strong user in our community chose to go and create a large scale prank on the Map."

Last month, the California-based Internet giant began re-evaluating its user-edited online map system after the latest embarrassing incident -- an image of an Android mascot urinating on an Apple logo.

The image, part of a crowd-sourced edit on Google Maps, appeared briefly at a Pakistani location before it was removed.

In a statement to US media at the time, Google apologized and said it was working to step up verification of user edits on its Map Maker platform.

Earlier in April, someone revised the map of the White House in Washington to include a new business called "Edwards Snow Den," an apparent effort to draw attention to former national security contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked a trove of secret documents on US surveillance.

The pranks were done with map making tools that allow any user to edit online maps. Google let people modify maps in the spirit of tapping into intimate, local knowledge to make them more accurate and detailed.

The mischief caused Google to suspend an automated edit approval process, shifting to manual reviews that take more time to conduct and have resulted in a backlog of proposed map modifications, according to Kanakarajan.

"We have been analyzing the problem and have made several changes," she said.

"However, it is becoming clear that fixing some of this is actually going to take longer than a few days."

gc/rl

GOOGLE


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Earth Observation News - Suppiliers, Technology and Application






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News





EARTH OBSERVATION
MOU between ISRO Department of Land Resources to beef up EO capacity
New Delhi, India (SPX) May 05, 2015
A function for signing the MOU between Department of Land Resources and NRSC for developing the Bhuvan Geoportal - Srishti and the mobile application Drishti was organized on 29.4.2015 in presence of Shri Birender Singh, Hon'ble Minister of Rural Development, in the Krishi Bhavan New Delhi. The MOU was signed by Dr. Sandeep Dave, Joint Secretary, Department of Land Resources and Dr. V K Da ... read more


EARTH OBSERVATION
Russia Invites China to Join in Creating Lunar Station

Japan to land first unmanned spacecraft on moon in 2018

Dating the moon-forming impact event with meteorites

Japan to land probe on the moon in 2018

EARTH OBSERVATION
Traffic Around Mars Gets Busy

Rock Spire in 'Spirit of St. Louis Crater' on Mars

Rover on the Lookout for Dust Devils

UAE opens space center to oversee mission to Mars

EARTH OBSERVATION
The language of invention: Most innovations are rephrasings of the past

NASA Confirms Electromagnetic Drive Produces Thrust in Vacuum

NASA pushes back against proposal to slash climate budget

Hawaii Says 'Aloha' to NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator

EARTH OBSERVATION
Xinhua Insight: How China joins space club?

Chinese scientists mull power station in space

China completes second test on new carrier rocket's power system

China's Yutu rover reveals Moon's "complex" geological history

EARTH OBSERVATION
Progress Incident Not Threatening Orbital Station, Work of Crew

Russia loses control of unmanned spacecraft

Japanese astronaut to arrive in ISS in May

Liquid crystal bubbles experiment arrives at International Space Station

EARTH OBSERVATION
ILS And Dauria announce Proton/Angara dual launch services agreement

SpaceX to test 'eject-button' for astronauts

India to launch 6 more satellites in 2015-16

Arianespace to launch HellaSat-4/SGS-1 for Arabsat and KACST

EARTH OBSERVATION
New exoplanet too big for its star

Robotically discovering Earth's nearest neighbors

Astronomers join forces to speed discovery of habitable worlds

Titan's Atmosphere Useful In Study Of Hazy Exoplanets

EARTH OBSERVATION
Real stereotypes continue to exist in virtual worlds

Researchers match physical and virtual atomic friction experiments

See flower cells in 3-D - no electron microscopy required

Northwestern scientists develop first liquid nanolaser




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.