I have been contributing to the Road Mapper platform since 2019, and so far, my total contribution exceeds 78,761 km of mapped roads. Over the past four years, I have noticed that there have been no major updates or new features added to the platform. As an active contributor, I believe a few improvements could make the platform more efficient and engaging—especially since a significant number of Local Guides are now actively contributing.
Below are my humble suggestions for consideration:
1. Expand Mapping Opportunities Beyond the Existing Countries
Currently, the Road Mapper platform is available in only ten countries. However, there are many developing nations—such as Cambodia, Afghanistan, and Iran—that are undergoing continuous infrastructure development.
If it’s not possible to officially add more countries right now, I suggest introducing a feature that allows contributors to input specific GPS coordinates and draw roads in their chosen areas, similar to how existing country blocks work.
This would enable contributors to map roads in regions where there are no legal restrictions, helping to fill global gaps in road data coverage.
2. Introduce a Contact Person or Support Channel
At present, it’s unclear which Google office or team is responsible for managing the Road Mapper platform.
Sometimes we encounter technical issues or data irregularities that we would like to report directly. Having a dedicated contact person or official email address would make it easier for contributors to share feedback, raise concerns, and communicate directly with the responsible team.
3. Add a “Top 100 Contributors” Feature
Currently, contributors receive only a monthly summary email showing the total progress made on the platform.
To make Road Mapper more engaging, a Top 100 Contributors leaderboard could be added.
This would encourage healthy competition, motivate contributors, and make the platform more interactive and community-driven.
4. Cross-Verification System for Quality Assurance
To improve accuracy, I propose introducing a cross-verification feature, where a road drawn by one contributor is randomly assigned to another contributor for review.
This would significantly reduce mapping errors and ensure that data quality and precision remain the highest priority over quantity.
5. Review Monthly Report Accuracy
In the monthly update email, the summary includes total kilometers of roads mapped and approved. However, I’ve noticed that pending roads are often counted as denied, which lowers the acceptance percentage ratio.
I kindly request the technical team to review this issue and verify whether it’s a system bug or data calculation error so that monthly statistics accurately reflect contributors’ true performance.
CC : @Kristen_NYC @Ivi_Ge