Premise: tomorrow morning, looking from the window, the owner of a small hotel in the middle of the mountains will watch his guests’ car arrive in amazement. Why, you may be wondering. It should be the normal thing: guests book, and then they arrive. His amazement will be due to the fact that the guests have not phoned half an hour before to ask for directions, but instead they will have arrived there without asking for anything. All this because since yesterday the road to reach the hotel is in Google Maps. When he finds out he will say “Finally Google Maps has decided to add the road”. He won’t know anything about the work that went into creating that path, but he’ll be happy with it, and that’s what matters.
Hi Local Guides
Hope you had the possibility to watch live the presentation of the Guiding Stars 2021
Well, if you haven’t done so yet, I recommend you watch the video till the end. Not only to learn about the Guiding Stars 2021, but also to find out what’s new in Google Maps
Adding missing roads is a fundamental action, to make Google Maps usable for everyone. Last year Google maps started to develop more tools for desktop, that for many is the preferred tool for editing maps
Road Mapper
Many Local Guides are currently contributing to Road Mapper, to design roads in countries where, until a few months ago, there were very few roads in Google Maps. In a few days the streets are approved and published in Google Maps, literally changing the look of many places on our planet. I have currently contributed almost 10,000 km.
If you want to join the program, read this post to find out how to join. ATTENTION: with these contributions you do not earn points in Maps, but only the gratitude of millions of people.
Road Editor
However, even in my country, Italy, many roads are not in Google Maps. I’m not just talking about paths and cycle paths, I’m talking about roads that allow you to reach homes where people live, in not too remote areas of the mountains. Roads that are now much easier to add, thanks to the new Road Editor for Desktop.
I am now glad to announce that Google “aim to have it available for all of you early next year”, as you can see in the video of the Guiding Stars 2021 announcement.
First of all, to understand what I mean, I want to show you this business. It is a very special Hotel, and apparently there was no way to reach the place other than, according to Google Maps, by leaving your car along a road and climbing a mountain.
Seems impossible, doesn’t it? If you look at the image above you will see:
- On the left, the last part of the route suggested by Map
- On the right, the same path with the terrain references. 686 meters away, with an elevation of 400 meters, equivalent to a slope of 58%
- In the circle, a detail in which you can see that the road passes right next to the hotel. Despite this, the street was not in Google Maps
At least, until a few days ago.
The area, despite the numerous houses and some B & Bs, appeared completely devoid of roads in Google Maps.
I’m adding them one by one, and soon the local activities will be “reachable” by tourists also through Google Maps
Quick approval time
Edits, if done right, are approved in just a few days. What I’m showing you in this post was edited on the evening of December 7th, and approved on the morning of December 10th, so in about two and a half days.
Check if the new editor is available for you already
How can you understand if the Road Editor is active in Google Maps on your desktop computer? This is easy: click in the Hamburger menu in Google Maps for desktop and select “Edit the map”. If in the pop-up that appears you find the command “Add or Fix a road” then you are part of the group for which Road Editor for Desktop is already available. In this case, by clicking on “Add a Road” you can easily add the missing roads
Detailed zoom
One of the great things about the new Road Editor is the zoom, which is much greater than what we get when we zoom in on Google Maps. This allows us to capture details with greater precision. Remember, however, to zoom out from time to time, especially if you are drawing a road in the woods, so that you never lose sight of the entire map of the area.
Submit your edit
When you have finished drawing the road, before submitting your edit, remember to add the “road type” (mandatory) and, if you know it, also the name of the road. Follow the procedure below
Timing
The times for the next steps are not always the same but, based on experience:
- Approval usually takes place within seven days (but as you have seen it can take a lot less)
- The road is normally visible in Maps, and the points are credited to your profile 24 hours after approval.
- The road can be available for navigation in Maps 3 days after approval
So let’s go back for a moment to the beginning of the story, when the owner of a small hotel in the middle of the mountains will watch his guests’ car arrive….
Because, this is the moment “When the magic happen”
Have you already tried to add roads in Google Maps, and above all, what is your feeling when a new road appears in the Maps navigation, allowing you to easily reach a place?
EDIT - March 29 - 2022 - A new function has been recently added so I decided to write a new post to integrate the information with the new function: Correct Road Shapes in Google Maps - “Follow the Blue Line”
I think its approval is related to the trust given by the profile. There are not many missing paths around me, but every time I add it, it is approved within 1 day. I think Google trusts me. 
, is a great example of the impact of this editing tool, let’s improve the map!