This is part 4 in a mini-series with tips on Editing Roads. Find the series index in reply # 1 below.
Based on the comments shared under part 3 I have tried to summarize and illustrate the tips to improve our road edit approval rate. This is the kind of guidance I wish Google Maps would provide to aspiring Local Guides wishing to venture into Road Editing. Thanks to @MarcoDavoli , @ErmesT , and @JustJake for providing highly valuable comments and suggestions.
The manual will need to be updated as changes in the road approval process occur. This version reflects the situation during the spring of 2024.
Overview
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Do not delete roads
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Do not fix the shapes
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Focus on populated areas
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Keep your road edits close together
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Avoid obstacles
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New roads must be connected to at least one existing road
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Closing holes
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Avoid Complex Road Edits
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All roads in one edit must be connected
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Bridges, Underpasses and Overpasses
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Outlines can block new roads
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Restricted areas
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Too many issues in one area
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Editor tips
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Tips to spot missing roads
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How to quickly open the Road editor
1. Do not delete roads
Removing roads is practically impossible to get approved.
A Googler once wrote âRoads should be fixed, not deletedâ when explaining Road Mapper.
Removing this road was rejected repeatedly.
2. Do not fix the shapes
Refrain from trying to adjust roads = realign = reshaping.
I tried to get this road aligned properly. It got rejected.
Currently, Google Maps is focussing on getting missing roads added, so fixing existing roads has a lower priority. Hence such edits are less likely to be approved.
@JustJake reported having some successwith using the âOtherâ field under Fix a Road to get realignment issues fixed.
He added: âIâm not sure if keywords play a part, but Iâm always clear about what thing the mapped road is violating, such as homes, properties, physics ⊠It takes some time, but the fixers are very good at redrawing.â
@ErmesT mentioned that shaping can get approved if bundled with adding a new road. I have not been able to confirm this.
I spend a lot of time realigning all these roads in Venezuela. All to no avail. Too complex and only trying to realign a bunch of roads. I intend to try the âOtherâ-method in the area.
3. Focus on populated areas
Areas where a lot of people live have higher priority so your chance of approval is higher in densely populated areas.
You get a higher approval rate in cities rather than in the country side.
4. Keep your road edits close together
Google Maps sometimes gives priority to approving all edits in one area. So concentrating your road edits to a limited area might lead to a higher approval rate. At the same time this makes it easier to followup on your road edits to check if more needs to be done.
5. Avoid obstacles
A clear view of roads sometimes get obstructed by trees, buildings, shadows, bridges etc.
Here are a few examples: 1: Trees cover the view of a path. 2: The roof over a gas station is mistaken for a building, and black shadows make half of the parking lots invisible from the sky.
This path is not getting approved despite several attempts. This is proabably due to the bottom part being cast in shade.
Obstacles may result in the AI refusing your new roads.
6. New roads must be connected to at least one existing road
Adding roads in the middle of nowhere will not be approved. It makes sense from a navigation point of view. So you need to first connect a village to a main road before adding roads inside a village. @MarcoDavoli confirmed this: âA new road that ends up in ânothingnessâ is often not approved.â
Trying to connect new roads to a pending road is also fruitless. You need to wait for the pending road to be approved before you can connect other new roads to it. This makes road editing unnecessarily time consuming.
7. Closing holes
Missing road sections that connect 2 existing road segments are easily approved.
Here is an example of adding a missing road segment to connect two existing roads. This edit was approved in less than 5 hours.
@MarcoDavoli added: âI can also say that the creation of a new road joining two roads is almost always approvedâ.
8. Avoid Complex Road Edits
These are examples of complicated road edits that are very unlikely to get approved.
Notice the many road connections = intersections. This is likely to confuse the AI that screens our road edits. None of these road edits got approved.
@ErmesT shared this: Complex edits are a big no. I usually break them down into two or three steps:
First, submit the main roads
Second, submit internal roads one by one. You can add more than one road if the two roads are connected, but avoid adding more than two connected roads in a single submission. This way you can easily submit up to 5 roads per minute.
Example of a complex road system broken down into steps. Left: The unapproved complex network of roads. Then I suggested only one of the roads. This got approved. Currently, Iâm waiting for approval of the the section shown in pic 3. The section in pic 4 just got approved. You can check the status here.
If you like points this strategy will earn you more points, but it also takes a lot more time and planning since you need to wait for the first roads to get approved before adding the next set of roads in one or two rounds. This requires some planning and strong commitment.
9. All roads in one edit must be connected
The first image will not be approved. You need to submit two separate edits as shown in pic 2 and 3. This makes little sense, but you make it easy for the AI to approve your work.
10. Bridges, Underpasses and Overpasses
If you need to draw a road without the new road connecting (snapping) to existing roads because they pass over or under, then you can delete the existing road temporarily as explained here.
11. Outlines can block new roads
If the standard view shows a building or airport runways where you need to draw a new road the new roads are unlikely to be approved. This is also the case where the building outline is wrong (like when a parking lot is mistaken for a building - see example 1 below).
Links to these examples Parking lot and Runways.
12. Restricted areas
Repeated and unsuccessful attempts to add obvious parking lots near airports hints that there might be some block put in place near airports. Check out these two examples: Kalmar Ăland Airport and Kumasi International Airport.
13. Too many issues in one area
You may come across areas where existing roads are drawn completely wrong - not just off set or drawn with a sloppy hand. Mayby the operator was drunk or wanted to create a mess. Or the satellite images were properly aligned.
Cleaning this up can take months due to the delays in approvals and the difficulty in getting roads removed. Here is one such example:
The roundabout does not exist. And major roads have not been draw. Existing roads do not follow what is shown in the satellite image. In such cases it is okay to give up and just leave a comment like this one in the âOtherâ field:
14. Editor tips
Currently, the road editor does not allow us to change the type of road (local road, bike/walking path, etc). Nor is it possible to split a road into two separate road segments. Instead, use the âOtherâ option to get such issues reported.
Donât mix Edit types and Road types in one edit.
While drawing roads you may need to move the map around. Try using the arrow keys for this.
Zooming in and out can be done with your mouse wheel.
Use these to undo and redo edits.
Is drawing roads neatly or roughly improving the approval rate? In my experience the approval system does not favor roads drawn with high precision (with many clicks) compared to roads drawn with fewer clicks. Below the Green road is drawn neatly while the blue road is draws with a lot fewer clicks.
There are two rare bugs you should know:
a. The satellite image in Maps can be old and different from Road Editor.
b. Not all approved roads show up in Road Editor.
c. Roads shown in the Road Editor are invisible in Maps standard view.
15. Tips to spot missing roads
Use desktop rather than mobile.
Scan areas in satellite mode at a zoom level of about 50-200 m.
Flip repeatedly between standard view mode and satellite mode to spot new roads as shown below.
Does the flipping shown above help you spot the missing roads in the parking lots? You can visit the place here to check if the missing roads have been added.
Try searching in Maps for âNew Subdivisionâ, âLand allotmentâ to find areas currently being developed.
Searching at the edge of cities can also prove effective.
Another strategy is to zoom in using Maps view so the building outlines become visible. Just look for clusters of buildings with no roads like shown below:
Opening the Road Editor before spotting a missing road is another useful strategy since missing roads are easier to spot. This is because paths and parking roads are not always shown outside the road editor.
In many areas most roads have already been drawn, so adding missing parking lots and bike/walking paths is pretty much what is left to fix.
Here is one more trick:
While browsing the map in satellite mode you can see the small standard view icon in the bottom left corner. This icon is updated dynamically to show the left side of the bigger map. This allows us to spot missing roads more quickly and without changing the view.
16. How to quickly open the Road editor
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Right-click on the map near the missing road. Then select Report a data problem
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Click Add or fix a road.
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Click Add a road or click on the road in need of fixing.
If you like keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+Shift+F will open the âProduct Feedbackâ menu.
This concludes the draft Manual for Road Editors. You are invited to suggest improvements and additions in the comments below.
One final thought is one of learning by doing. The best way to better understand and predict the outcome of road edits is to systematically study the outcome of our road edits. How do we best please the AI so more and more of our road edits get approved? And we need to consistently apply such lessons learned in the future - and keep learning and sharing this knowledge. Unfortunately, the 75% rejection rate makes it very difficult to learn and improve as is the case with normal edits.
Cheers
Morten
Credits:
The cover image was created using DALL·E 2 AI with the prompt
âA van Gogh style painting of a quiet road in the countryside during summerâ.