Understanding things we can not edit on Google Maps

[MortenCopenhagen]

This is the second post in a mini-series on Easing Local Guides’ Frustrations. The first post was How to get Edits and New Places Approved and the 3rd post will probably be named “Regional Editing Restrictions”.

Today is not about the normal pins we deal with every day on Google Maps, but all the other elements on Google Maps that are not normal pins.

Many local guides get upset when they find stuff on Google Maps they can not change because the “Suggest an Edit”-link is missing. That’s exactly what this post is about.

Disclaimer This tutorial is long and explains quite nerdy details that are not for everyone. But if you want to be a better Local Guide and master editing information on Google Maps this is for you! It’s complicated stuff, so please use Google Maps on a desktop to experiment while reading. @PaulPavlinovich wrote a brilliant post on this calledShapes and Places in 2020, and it has helped me understand how the normal pins are different from areas and lines on Google Maps. My tutorial is not based on inside knowledge from Google. I’m just a local guide like you. Instead, the content is based on my detailed studies of Google Maps as a curious user.

We as Local Guides are only trusted with editing and moving normal pins and not elements that are lines like roads and borders and also not areas like lakes and villages on Google Maps.

Lakes and villages are not just a spot that can be located with one set of GPS coordinates. The shape of a lake is more complicated. They need more (sometimes a lot) GPS coordinates to precisely describe the edge of the area.

Google only trusts its employees to edit lines and areas on Google Maps. That is basically why we as Local Guides can not edit them. They may think we are too dumb to edit shapes! Or, - more likely - they need to be sure that roads and borders are not changed without proper documentation. Imagine how navigating from A to B would be if all Local Guides could delete a piece of a road. Or if anyone could move the borders or delete a whole country!

In 2008 Google started the Maps Maker program where users were allowed to edit shapes on Google Maps. But the program was shut down in March 2017 primarily due to abuse. By only letting staff change such basic elements of the map the integrity of navigation and data is better protected from such malicious abuse.

Being able to recognize what edits are off-limits to Local Guides, I felt a lot less frustrated. I hope this tutorial will do the same for you.

The following 9 examples will take us around the Globe. We will visit places my family knows very well: an island called Saltholm between Sweden and Denmark, Mysore in India, and a university city in California.

For each example, I will use this table to describe what to look for and how the elements of the map are different.

Normal pin:

Suggest an Edit	Add photos	Photos shown	Add reviews	Pin visible	Clickable area
					Circular

The last column “Clickable area” can be “Circular” or “Follows the shape”. This is explained in more detail below.

Now let’s get started. All the illustrations are from the desktop version of Google Maps and things look different in the apps on mobile devices or might not work as described below.

Example 1

Saltholm is a low-lying island between Copenhagen in Denmark and Malmø in Sweden. Just north of the bridge between the two cities. If you open Saltholm in Google Maps you will see this:

If you scroll down in the left panel you will not find the usual “Suggest an Edit” button or link. But you can add photos and reviews.

So this is the table:

Suggest an Edit	Add photos	Photos shown	Add reviews	Pin visible	Clickable area
					Follows the shape

If you close the left panel and click anywhere (not near another pin) on Saltholm a small infobox will show up as shown below. When clicking on the island you may need to click twice should something else be open. Or you can always right-click and select “What’s here?” to open the infobox at the bottom.

In this infobox for Saltholm, there are 3 lines of text:

• Saltholm. Name of the area. Click here and the left panel for Saltholm will open again.
• 2770 Kastrup This is the postcode and Kastrup is the name of the old Municipality Saltholm belonged to.
• The last line shows the exact GPS coordinates for where I clicked on Saltholm (marked with a red arrow).

Now close the left panel and try clicking here and there on Saltholm along the coastline. When you happen to hit the blue water next to Saltholm the infobox will tell you that you clicked on “Øresund” which is the name of the “sea” between Denmark and Sweden. This is how you can figure out if Saltholm is defined as an area and not just as a pin with one set of GPS coordinates.

And because there is no “Suggest an Edit” available we can for sure conclude this for Local Guides is an uneditable area on Google Maps. It is not a point of interest but an area. The pros call these shapes ‘vector data’.

Example 2

This is a funny-shaped forest called Amagerskoven on Saltholm. When you open the link you will see the following:

Please notice the following:

• In the left panel, you can see the category is “National forest” (which I find a bit odd for such a tiny area).
• This element has no pin on the map. But the name is shown.
• If you click around you will find the clickable area to open the “Amagerskoven”-infobox follows precisely the edge of the green shape. Please try.
• In the left panel, there are no photos shown, you can not add any photos or reviews, and there is no Suggest an Edit-link or button.

So this is also an un-editable shape for Local Guides. The table for this area shows nothing but red Xs:

Suggest an Edit	Add photos	Photos shown	Add reviews	Pin visible	Clickable area
					Follows the shape

If you turn on satellite view you can verify the existence and shape of the tiny forest.

Example 3

The next example from Saltholm is Hollænderbrønd. It is a small well and canal structure used for irrigation purposes many years back when farmers from The Netherlands immigrated to Denmark to grow vegetables. This is what it looks like from the satellite:

The left panel shows you can suggest edits, add photos and write reviews. And there is no differently colored area in the normal view as seen below.

So what kind of map element is Hollænderbrønd? You guessed right, it is just a normal pin like any other business or place of interest pin on Google Maps.

To confirm this you can start clicking around to figure out where the edge of the clickable area is. Check when the infobox stops showing “Hollænderbrønd” while slowly increasing the distance from the pin. You should zoom in all the way and use the scale marked in pink below.

For extra help please know that the canal going north is about 8 meters long, the two longer arms are about 14 meters long. By clicking around I estimate the clickable area is a circle with a radius of more than 8 meters and less than 10-11 meters. Please check if you agree by using the clicking method.

I’m explaining this ridiculous procedure only to demonstrate how we can see otherwise invisible information about places and pins on Google Maps. If you want to understand areas it is best also to understand how normal pins work.

In conclusion, Hollænderbrønd is just a plain normal pin with a clickable 9m meter circle.

The table is all positive checkmarks:

Suggest an Edit	Add photos	Photos shown	Add reviews	Pin visible	Clickable area
					9 m circle

Example 4

Now, let’s look at the last Danish example: Saltholm Batteri. Please open it to see:

The table is all all positive:

Suggest an Edit	Add photos	Photos shown	Add reviews	Pin visible	Clickable area
					9 m circle

So this is again just another normal pin. I included this example only to demonstrate the following:

• If you zoom in all the way and turn the satellite mode on and off you will notice that the building outline is not very well aligned with the building as shown on the satellite image. You can see the pin is next to the building when viewed from a satellite! Such misalignments are quite common and can explain other issues you might face.
• If you start clicking around on the building outline (not in satellite mode) you will find that the infobox for Saltholm Batteri is not shown if you click in the lower-left corner of the outline. This can help you determine that a place is a pin and not an area.
• The clickable 9-meter circle is not centered around the visible pin but where I painted a pink dot. This is just to illustrate that behind the scenes Google has pins that we as local guides can not see.

If you zoom out a bit you can see “Saltholm batteri” is surrounded by a ring of water (it is a moat). Click anywhere on the body of water and the infobox will tell you the water is named “Kastrup”. A red pin is also shown - not necessarily where you clicked. And most importantly: the left panel does not allow us to “Suggest an Edit”.

Here is the table for this for Local Guides uneditable moat area:

Suggest an Edit	Add photos	Photos shown	Add reviews	Pin visible	Clickable area
					Follows the shape

The naming can seem odd. Kastrup is the name of Copenhagen airport. If you search for Kastrup you can find this image:

It turns out that Saltholm was part of a no longer existing municipality called “Kastrup”. Google Maps shows the area with a red line indicating the surrounding border. HOORAY, here we don’t need the click-around method to find the edges of the area. This is an area and not a dot.

It turns out that the circular body of water surrounding “Saltholm Batteri” got its name from this old municipality. It is quite normal and can explain why some areas carry odd and very unspecific names.

As a side note, did you notice how the lower right bit of Saltholm for no good reason is excluded from the red line defining Kastrup and Saltholm? This is odd, and probably a mistake. See the purple arrow in the screenshot above.

If you do the “What’s here?” click method in this left area you will be informed that it’s part of “Denmark” and not “Saltholm”!

This illustrates how the map is constructed by areas upon areas upon areas. Or you could say layers upon layers. Where there is no local area defined Google Maps will “fall back” on the bigger underlying areas to name an area. That is why this corner of Saltholm is labeled Denmark and not Saltholm.

This concludes the Denmark examples in this tutorial. India is next with 3 examples from the city of Mysore.

Example 5

Kukkarahalli Lake is a famous lake in Mysore. It is an area and not a normal pin on Google Maps. You can use the clicking method to confirm that the clickable area follows the edge of the blue lake shape. It does accept both photos and reviews.

Some Local Guides might be upset that they can not find the Suggest an Edit button in the left panel.

The only visible difference from a normal pin is the missing Suggest an Edit option.

Suggest an Edit	Add photos	Photos shown	Add reviews	Pin visible	Clickable area
					Follows the shape

You will often see such examples where a fellow Local Guide decided just to create a new pin when he could not upload photos, add reviews or suggest edits. This happened even here where photos and reviews are permitted. The duplicate pin is also named Kukkarahalli Lake (marked with B in the screenshot above). This is a normal pin, and the category is not Lake (which would be the obvious category) so he just selected Park as the category!

This happened because the Lake category is not available for Local Guides to select. Google Maps communicates in this very subtle way that we should not try to add lakes on Google Maps.

The two pins should ideally be merged to keep Google Maps clean and well organized. But unfortunately, Local Guides can’t suggest the two lakes be merged because one is a pin and the other is an area. This is another gold nugget of knowledge: Don’t waste your time trying to merge anything but normal pins. It will never be approved.

Since the normal pin for Kukkarahalli Lake (B) has about 900 reviews and almost 2000 photos it should not be removed.

Example 6

If you click somewhere next to the lake the infobox should tell you that you are in the city district called Kukkarahalli. The district shows up on the map with a nice red line with a white outline which is different from the line around Kastrup.

The city district of Kukkarahalli does not allow edits, photos, and reviews. And there is no visible pin, so the table is:

Suggest an Edit	Add photos	Photos shown	Add reviews	Pin visible	Clickable area
					Follows the shape

I left the Photos shown to mention that cities and most city districts will show some selected photos even though there is no option to add photos. Google Maps has an automated AI system to select some of the best photos uploaded to places inside the city / city district to also represent the city/city district.

So there is no need to swear or think you don’t master Google Maps when you open the left panel for an area and see photos but no “Add photos” button. This is just how it is. This is easier to understand when you know the difference between pins and areas.

Example 7

Just south of Kukkarahalli Lake but still inside Kukkarahalli, you will find Mysore University Swimming Pool. Please open it on Google Maps and try to figure out if this is a pin or an area. Yes, you - do it now!

Some hints to go by

• The red pin is outside the pool area → probably a normal pin.
• The shape of the pool is not shown on the normal (not satellite) view → probably a normal pin.
• It is possible to suggest an edit if you scroll down in the left panel → For sure this is a normal pin and not an area.
• Lastly, you could try the click method on the top end of the pool to see if Mysore University Swimming Pool will show up in the infobox. The infobox says “opposite JSS Women’s College” → For sure this is a normal pin and not an area.

What an unusual name is “opposite JSS Women’s College”?

Common sense would consider a swimming pool to be an area, but this is not the case here. Most businesses also occupy an area in the real world, but they are always pins on Google Maps!

Now let’s move on to the bicycle-friendly city of Davis in northern California to study addresses, buildings, and streets on Google Maps. They are also areas and not pins.

Example 8

Open this private address on Google Maps. It is a building and a private home in West Davis. The full address is 2733 Eel Place, Davis, CA 95616, USA.

This building does not accept pictures and reviews, and no pins are shown before you open the left panel. Notice, there is no “Suggest an Edit”-link. But you can add a place or business at this address. The gray numbers on each building are the house numbers referring to the street. House numbers are not available in all countries.

The clickable area does not follow the outline of the building but is a simple circle.

The photo shown is from the Google Street View car, and Maps users can not add their own photos.

Suggest an Edit	Add photos	Photos shown	Add reviews	Pin visible	Clickable area
					Circular

In the early 90-ties, I lived in this house for a year while exploring American life and culture with my family.

Example 9

Try clicking on the street Eel Pl in Davis. In the infobox and the left panel you can see the street is named “2798-2700 Eel Pl”. To me, it would be more logical if the street name was “2700-2798 Eel Pl”.

Also, streets do not show the "Suggest an Edit- link.

Suggest an Edit	Add photos	Photos shown	Add reviews	Pin visible	Clickable area
					Follows the shape

While the left panel is open there is no red pin shown, only a smaller gray dot. Some roads are named “Unnamed roads”. Although you can’t suggest edits there are other ways you can Add or fix a road on Google maps. This can be done under “Edit the map” which is very different from “Suggest an Edit”.

Below is the menu that comes up when you select “Edit the map” in the main Google Maps menu for Eel Place.

Here you can suggest all kinds of changes. Feedback via “Edit the map” will always be checked by Google staff before approval and implementation. While suggested edits to normal pins are mostly checked by an automated computer system.

You can also use “Edit the Map” to suggest changes to other areas and add new addresses etc.

Congratulations. You made it through all 9 examples.

Here is a quick recap:

1. Un-editable stuff on Google Maps are always areas
2. Areas on Google Maps have no “Suggest an Edit” link or button
3. Areas may or may not accept photos and reviews
4. Areas can have a pin, some text, or nothing on Maps
5. Some areas have a red line around them
6. You can make invisible areas somewhat visible by using the clicking-method
7. Areas can have categories that are not available to Local Guides
8. Don’t duplicate places just because you want to add photos or reviews. Instead, send feedback and ask for photos and reviews to be allowed
9. Some areas will inherit photos from pins inside the area and not let you add photos
10. Don’t add new places if the correct category is not available
11. Google Maps consists of areas upon areas upon areas and then some pins
12. If an area has no name it will inherit a name from the layer below
13. There can be misalignments between normal view and satellite view
14. When there is no “Suggest an Edit” link or button you can try “Edit the Map” instead.

Hopefully, your past and future frustrations related to stuff we can’t edit are now less problematic.

Thanks for reading. Please add your comments and questions below.

Cheers

Morten

PS Don’t expect Google to respond directly to you after giving feedback under “Edit the Map” - they never do. You need to check regularly to see if they listened. Most of the time nothing happens!

[MortenCopenhagen]

I would like to extend a huge THANK YOU to my fellow local guides who were so kind to review and comment on the draft of this post.

Thanks

Morten

[JanVanHaver]

Great post @MortenCopenhagen I’m sure this will be extremely helpful to make local guides understand a lot of things that might seem very puzzling are first.

Looking forward to part 3!

[MortenCopenhagen]

Some categories on Google Maps are well protected from edits made by Local Guides.

Although there is a “Suggest an Edit”-link nothing will be approved when the category is:

Hospital

Pharmacy

Busstop

Banks

ATM

Knowing this can also help you not get frustrated. I simply avoid trying to edit or add such places.

[Amiran]

Hi @MortenCopenhagen

Thank you. Very great and informative post. I had a quick look into it and really contains great and correct details.

[C_T]

Hi, @MortenCopenhagen

An incredible article.

[JanVanHaver]

@MortenCopenhagen I agree on the Banks & ATM, but when it comes to Pharmacies and Doctors, my experience is that none of those currently get automatically approved, but that legitimate edits will go from Pending to Approved after a while (anything from a couple of days to a couple of weeks).

[PaulPavlinovich]

This should help people indeed @MortenCopenhagen well done.

Paul

[Reymono]

@MortenCopenhagen
I think it depends on the region - Banks and ATMs can be edited in Mexico - at least name and pin.
Pharmacies - hard, but again name and pin can be edited. However, not possible it seems (get approval) to add, re-open or remove - even when obvious when you visit the place.

Pay phones - which are still common - can be removed, but seemingly not added.

[MortenCopenhagen]

@Reymono

Thanks for the update on Mexico. Much appreciated.

Cheers

Morten

[3d8]

Poxa mas porque é que não há nenhuma foto disponível na área da floresta mencionada aí neste texto?

Como assim? Poderiam haver pelo menos as fotos selecionadas! Eles falam que o maps vai cada vez mais proporcionar uma experiência mais real (imersiva, 3d etc…) Mas e quanto a isso?

[SholaIB]

Hello @MortenCopenhagen

I personally love edits you probably know that and thank you for your very profound and detailed analysis on these issues and subject on map edits. I’ll refer to these posts of your on some of my posts pretty soon,am sure you’ll permit me. Thank you in advance.

For the issue I mentioned to you about drawing roads in Liberia the country where I now live and work. That’s the second country in West Africa I’ve noticed something (restrictions) like that. I just wish we as local guides could have a way of escalating issues like that aside going through the government papers and protocols etc. Anyways I’ll miss drawing roads for the length of time I’ll be here. I had a target to meet, I am afraid it will have be on hold for now. Wonder will you kindly include this my issue in your next edition of regional restrictions. Look forward to what you’ll have to write and Thank you for your reserve of knowledge and years of experience on the maps and connect.

Cheers

[MortenCopenhagen]

Hi @SholaIB

Thanks for your kind words. Please share links as you please. It’s an honor.

I know I will not be able to suggest a fix the problem that Google Maps in some regions is not yet ready to let users suggest new roads. Often the lack of high quality data from local authorities is a big (maybe the major) reason.

I trust you have tried using the new desktop road adding tool (very different from Roadmapper).

You can always make a post in the idea exchange (and cross your fingers) or become an activist lobbying for better quality government maps on the area.

Cheers

Morten

[Trail_blazer]

First of all many thanks for the hard work @MortenCopenhagen

I liked this one the most, this mini series deserves at least thousand like tbh. Anyways you threw some great deal of light on Pins and area. I always had this question that why some places (parks etc) have double entries while one accept the photos n reviews and the other won’t. And to me it appeared that the genuine entry was fake, created by spammers that’s why Google stopped people from adding photos and reviews while the new entry made by people which accepts almost everything, is the right one and I also did notice that it’s category is always weird one. Now you have explained it very well.

here are my few takes.

I understand Google wants the data be added by proper documentation etc (parks, lakes etc) but these are also the tourists/visitors rich points so what’s the point of marking them as area and making it devoid of photos and reviews ? If people needs to look at place they want to see pictures and reviews before going there.

And my question is the reason people create 2nd entry with different name or category because they know area has some traffic and needs to be highlighted by pics and reviews.

and regarding your Mysore swimming pool example yes In India it’s weird way of telling the direction , people tell it’s opposite of A B C when queried about some place so I guess people named it as is and created the unusual name

[MortenCopenhagen]

@Trail_blazer

Thanks for your kind words. Very much appreciated.

You asked about areas not accepting pics and reviews. I think they were added to the map so early that noone thought about photos and reviews. It is just a setting. If we can get a message through to Google staff they can allow photos and reviews on such area pins. And they can do the needed merging, but I guess the unfortunate duplications of such places have become so widespread that they have pretty much given up on this. Or the experts filtering issues on Maps Support forum are not up to the task resulting in Local Guides giving up on this.

But please don’t let this stop you from continuing your fight fixing such duplicates.

Cheers

Morten

[Trail_blazer]

Indeed @MortenCopenhagen

It’s great to know things bit more in details. It will only smoothen the work process. That’s why I said post deserves most kudos I hope lots of mappers go through these 3 posts of yours and learn to differentiate.

and post few repetitive posts over and over.

And yeah the good work shall continue.

Cheers

[Nguthijosephk]

Thanks @MortenCopenhagen the information will be very helpful to many local guides.

[tony_b]

Wow!! So much detail @MortenCopenhagen

I can’t retain it all, but I’ll remember this, the next time something doesn’t work as I expected.

[tony_b]

@MortenCopenhagen you said in your list that there are restrictions on - Hospital, Pharmacy, Busstop, Banks, and ATM.

As various pharmacies in my country are listed, I recently added a missing pharmacy and I see under Edits that Place Creation has been Approved. But when I go back to Photos, my two photos are still listed as Unknown Place. Also if I attempt to navigate to the place it is still not found - which of course is what prompted me to add it a few weeks ago after I made a purchase there.

Yes your post was to help us avoid frustration, but why did the system say my Place Creation was approved and yet the name is still not findable?

[MortenCopenhagen]

Sorry, @tony_b

I have no good answer to share.

Morten