This is the last of 3 posts on Easing Local Guides’ Frustrations.
Series index:
Easing frustrations 1: How to get Edits and New Places Approved
Easing frustrations 2: Understanding things we can not edit on Google Maps
Easing frustrations 3: Understanding Regional Editing Restrictions (this post).
In today’s post called Understanding Regional Editing Restrictions, I will explain how Google Maps works slightly differently depending on your location. Since not all Google Maps features are available in all countries and regions.
Honestly, I don’t think Google has done much to help Local Guides who feel they hit a wall when unable to do what others can do on Google Maps. I have tried to help many frustrated Local Guides with problems caused by these regional differences. In addition, some features can be blocked temporarily or permanently in some areas.
Self-doubt is a heart-wrenching feeling. When having a problem with editing something on Google Maps we are often faced with questions like these:
- Did I do something wrong in the edit I suggested?
- Is my account blocked from doing certain edits?
- Is the problem on Google’s side so it’s not only my problem?
Should the problem be on the side of Google Maps there is absolutely no reason to feel bad or be frustrated. So in this post, I will share some tricks you can use to check if there are few or many Editing Restrictions where you live.
The tools shared in this post are based purely on my personal research, experience, and my reading of Google’s public support and help documents. So if something is not correct, blame me and add a comment below to tell me what is wrong, and I will be pleased to make corrections.
This post has the following 3 sections.
Section A on Restriction indicators includes:
A1 Editing restrictions related to abuse or crisis
A2 Prohibited territories
A3 No red borders
A4 Adding new roads is impossible
A5 Google Business Profile availability
Section B on Possible restriction indicators includes:
B1 Traffic layer
B2 Transit layer
B3 Speed limits
B4 Bicycle navigation
B5 Streetview
B6 Indoor Maps
B7 Local language
B8 Satellite resolution
B9 Miscellaneous indicators
Section C: Summary
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Section A:# Restriction indicators
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Unfortunately, Google Maps does not reveal much information about local editing restrictions, so we are left with checking some indirect clues. The 5 most obvious and strongest indicators are explained in this section.
A1: Editing restrictions related to abuse or crisis
In the Maps User Contributed Content Policy it is stated on the first page:
*"*We reserve the right to disable user-generated contributions for individual business profiles and business categories to prevent abuse."
All our photos, reviews, star-only-ratings, edits, and new places are considered “user-generated contributions”.
This is often used as a means to block spammers from doing harm in a certain area - often for a limited period. I have experienced this in areas attracting a lot of tourists, where submissions of new places could not get approved. Banks and ATMs being almost untouchable is another example of this.
Google will also block user-generated contributions in times of crisis.
“Out of an abundance of caution and with safety in mind, Google is removing user contributions like photos, videos, reviews, and business information and all user-submitted places from Google Maps in Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus since the invasion began. We are also temporarily blocking new edits from being posted on Maps in those countries.”
You can learn more about this here and here.
While visiting places in Ukraine and Russia on Google Maps you may see this:
The info alert is displayed prominently on most pages. And if you visit places with thousands of reviews you will see that the newest are actually posted prior to the invasion started as reviews were removed and new reviews are still blocked.
Since communication is very restricted in Russia, many Maps users started posting independent war information as reviews on Google Maps to reach Russian civilians. So not everyone was happy with this move.
The links to “Suggest an Edit” are also gone on Google Maps in the war zones.
Update January 24th, 2024: Now there is a crisis block on reviews in Israel.
Update April 2024:
Google Maps has become more transparent on this. Below you can see an example of this. I found this by clicking on a rejected edit in my contribution list of edits.
A2: Prohibited territories
On this page, you can find a short list of countries and areas where Google Maps is not available or the service is very restricted. So if you are experiencing problems with making edits or getting edits approved, it is worth checking Google Maps Platform Prohibited Territories to see if your area is considered prohibited territory by Google.
Unfortunately, there is not much we as Local Guides can do to change this. If you live in a prohibited territory you will probably experience the most severe editing restrictions.
A3: No red borders
If you do a text search in Google Maps for your country, will the border then be shown in red? Above you can see the border of Bulgaria shown in red.
Notice how the border around Ukraine currently is not marked in red. Politically disputed areas and wars will prompt Google to make this change. This also indicates some Google Maps features can be disabled. If the borders of your country are marked in red and your country is not on the list of Prohibited Territories you are likely to experience few editing restrictions.
A4: Adding new roads is impossible
Even if you don’t see restrictions related to abuse or crisis, are not in a prohibited territory, and your country’s border is shown in red, there can still be severe limitations on what you can do. I found that checking whether you can add new roads can be a good indicator of whether such limitations are in place.
Here are the steps to check if roads can be added:
- Zoom in all the way somewhere in the area you want to test
- On mobile: Tap Contribute and then tap the round icon named EDIT MAP
- On desktop: Open the hamburger menu (top left) and select Edit the map
Above the menu includes “Missing road”.
Above the menu includes “Add or fix a road”
Above both “Missing road” and “Add or fix a road” are missing.
Above there is not even a menu shown.
If you don’t get a menu or get a menu without a road option then you are probably looking at an area with a lot of editing restrictions. And if you see “Missing road” or “Add or fix a road” then you have probably zoomed in on an area with few editing restrictions.
If this test shows you are in a restricted area, then there is unfortunately nothing you can do about it. Except for hoping. Often such restrictions are due to political reasons. At least, you now know that the problem is not on you. These restrictions affect everyone in the area.
One important exception:
In some areas seeing “Add or fix a road” is somewhat misleading. If you suspect that restrictions are in place you will need to do this additional test:
- Tap Add or fix a road
- Then Road name
- Tap to select a road
If you then see the text “Your feedback is important to us…” as shown above, then you are actually in an area with a lot of editing restrictions despite the “Add or fix a road” being available. I saw this exception after zooming in on Iraq.
A5: Google Business Profile availability
The Local Guides Program has a sister program called Google Business Profile (GBP) for business owners and their representatives. Joining GBP will give the owners more power to edit their information on Google Maps and on Google Search. But GBP is not available in all areas.
Local guides in areas where the GBP program is unavailable are more likely to have problems with getting edits on Google Maps approved. I have seen numerous posts on Connect from fellow local guides being very upset over the many restrictions they face on Google Maps.
So you may want to check The list of where Business Profile is supported to see if GBP-program is available in your area. If not, this could help explain why your editing is somewhat restricted.
At the bottom of the list, you will find some specific countries and territories mentioned. These are areas where Local Guides often report having problems with making edits on Google Maps.
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Section B:## Possible restriction indicators
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The rest of this tutorial is dedicated to describing more ways to check how well Google Maps is implemented in your area. There is not a direct connection between the availability of each feature and what editing restrictions you will be experiencing. But I believe that the more features are available in your area the fewer editing restrictions you will experience.
Checking these less important indicators is only relevant if you found no restrictions in Section A.
Google has published and maintains this Google Maps Platform Coverage Details overview. This is a great place to check how many features are available in your area. A black dot indicates “The feature is available in the area, with good data quality and availability.” From this list, I learned that availability of the Traffic Layer, Bike Directions, and Speed Limits are some of the more useful indicators of how well Google Maps is implemented in an area.
The more of the features available in your area, the higher the priority is set from Google’s side and I speculate that this also means fewer editing restrictions in your area. Below I have elaborated on the following features and how they may affect your editing power.
B1 Traffic layer
B2 Transit layer
B3 Speed limits
B4 Bicycle navigation
B5 Streetview
B6 Indoor Maps
B7 Local language
B8 Satellite resolution
B9 Miscellaneous indicators
B1 Traffic layer
Check if you can select and show the live Traffic layer. This is a screenshot from a computer. The first red arrow shows where to select the Traffic layer (notice the icon). The second red arrow shows the legend explaining green means fast traffic and red means stuck traffic. Also, note the long street blocked by road work.
If the Traffic layer is available to you, then you are probably less likely to experience a lot of editing restrictions.
B2 Transit layer
This screenshot from an Android device shows the Transit layer turned “ON”. Public transportation options are shown. The colored lines indicate Metro and Local train lines. Information on the transit layer is used for finding the best routes for navigating public transportation using Google Maps. Also, there will be live information about upcoming departures at stations and bus stops. Is the transit layer and live transit data available in your area?
If the Transit layer is available to you, then you are probably less likely to experience a lot of editing restrictions.
B3 Speed limits
If you can turn on and view speed limits while navigating by car in Google Maps, then you are probably less likely to experience a lot of editing restrictions.
B4 Bicycle navigation
Can you select Bicycle navigation in Google Maps? The red arrow shows the bicycle icon after car, train, and walking. If you select one of the Bikeshare icons under the map, the nearest bikes available for hire right now will also be shown on the Map.
If Bicycle navigation is available in your area, then you are probably less likely to experience a lot of editing restrictions.
B5 Streetview
Is Streetview readily available in your area? This screenshot from a computer shows how Germany and Belarus in Europe are not well covered when it comes to Streetview. If you visit this link and scroll down a bit you can see where the Streetview cars will be next.
If Streetview is available in your area, then you are probably less likely to experience a lot of editing restrictions.
B6 Indoor Maps
The owners of shopping centers, airports, and sports arenas can upload indoor maps to Google Maps. This allows Maps users to navigate such places over more floor levels. The downside is that our edits to places on Indoor maps are very restricted if not completely blocked. So if you are having issues with adding and editing places in Shopping centers and airports the addition of an indoor map might explain this. I have not been able to add new places in areas covered by an indoor map for some time. A simple edit to the store name etc in a shopping center with an Indoor Map is often possible though.
It makes sense that we can not add new places to Indoor Maps since we can not select the Indoor Map level as Local Guides.
You can recognize indoor maps by zooming in and then looking for walls between the individual stores. Also, the presence of the floor selector indicates you are looking at an indoor map.
This is a screenshot from the indoor map of Field’s shopping center in Copenhagen. I have added red arrows to show the floor selector. Notice how some stores are not added correctly since they seem to penetrate all 3 floors! While others only show up on a single level.
You can check if Indoor Maps is available where you live on the Indoor Maps availability list.
B7 Local language
Is your local language available on Google Maps? If not: hopefully, it will be added soon.
If your local language can be selected in Google Maps, then you are probably less likely to experience a lot of editing restrictions.
B8 Satellite resolution
The following 3 images illustrate how the quality of satellite images may differ a lot. All three are screenshots from a Computer after zooming in as far as possible to show some cars for easy comparison.
This image is from Kalinkavichy in Belarus. Notice the visible pixels and how the shadows are hard to tell apart from the cars. There is no chance to tell the mark or model of these cars.
This satellite image is from Mumbai in India. The satellite image quality went up after high-resolution images were banned for years to prevent terrorists from using them. Here windshields and car colors can be approximated.
The last example is from a random place in Copenhagen, Denmark. Here colors and types of cars can be approximated. Notice how windows on all four sides can be seen, but the resolution is not sufficient to read license plates. This image is likely from an airplane and not a satellite.
By zooming in closely on satellite images you can get another indication of how well Google Maps is implemented in your area.
Sensitive areas can also be pixilated for security reasons is the case around Militaire Kazerne Brugge shown below.
Local Guides will also face problems when trying to create and edit places in such pixilated areas.
The higher the satellite resolution the more editing power you might have.
B9 Miscellaneous indicators
There are a few more features you can check. These include:
- Is it possible to share your location in your Google Maps app?
- Are most streets named?
- Are house numbers shown on building outlines?
- Can dynamic sections of Google Maps be shown on local websites?
- Is paying for parking possible in Google Maps?
For each “Yes” to the questions above you probably have better editing power.
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Section C:## Summary
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Answer the following questions to determine if you live in an area with local editing restrictions:
A1: Is “Suggest an edit” normally available?
YES: Great - You are not facing acute editing restrictions
NO: You definitely live in an area with strong editing restrictions
A2: Are you lucky NOT to live in a prohibited territory?
YES: Great - You are not facing strong editing restrictions
NO: You definitely live in an area with strong editing restrictions
A3: Does your area have a red border after a search?
YES: Great - You are not facing strong editing restrictions
NO: You live in an area with strong editing restrictions
A4: Is adding or fixing new roads possible?
YES: Great - You are not likely to face many editing restrictions
NO: You live in an area with some editing restrictions
A5: Is the Google Business Program available in your area?
YES: Great - You are not likely to face many editing restrictions
NO: You live in an area with some editing restrictions
If you answered YES to all the above questions, you may want to also answer the following:
B1: Is the Traffic layer available in your area?
B2: Is the Public transport layer available in your area?
B3: Are Speed limits available in your area?
B4: Is Bicycle navigation available in your area?
B5: Is Streetview available in your area?
B6: Are Indoor Maps available in your area?
B7: Is your local language available in Maps?
B8: Is the Satellite resolution high in your area?
If you answered YES 8 times this means that Google Maps is very well implemented in your area. And you are probably not facing local editing restrictions.
Comments and questions are very welcome below.
Cheers
Morten
PS: I would like to thank @JeroenM and @Amiran for their very helpful comments on the draft of this post.
