2022
When you take a look at the details of your contributions in your Google Maps profile, the chances are big that, for most of you, there are substantial numbers for 'Photos', 'Reviews' and quite often also 'Answers'. But for most local guides, the counter for one particular type of contribution remains at 0: 'Roads added'. This is particularly true if you live in an area where Google Maps has been around for ages. "All the streets in my neighbourhood are on the map already, so how could I possibly ever get rid of that annoying 0?" local guides from those areas might argue.
Which is true... to a large extent, but not completely. Across the globe, almost everywhere new (parts of) roads are added from time to time, as e.g. new territories get developed for extra housing. The difficulty is obviously: find them before those are added on Maps either by an update from the local administration submitted to the partner the Google Maps is cooperating with to obtain map data for your area, or by another local guide.
The technique I am sharing here is a guaranteed method of finding such newly added roads, but I should warn you in advance: it does require some patience and an eye for detail. The patience refers to the fact that my technique has the best chance of being successful when new satellite images have been uploaded to Maps for the area where you live, so it's very likely that you'll have to wait and check Maps regularly (which could be an excellent opportunity for doing some #LGCTM every time you're there 😉).
The eye for detail, then, comes in when the new satellite images are there: you should be scrolling around the satellite map at the right zoom level (as shown in the 1st image) and hunt for pale line-shaped elements near areas where there are roads already. With pale I mean: clearly paler than the surroundings (as you see in image 1 above). Those paler areas are often places where construction works have taken place in the recent past (or might still be ongoing), and the fact that they are line-shaped typically means those are new roads. Image 2 shows what this looks like when zoomed in, and image 3, the same area in the default map view (yes, I'm using dark mode) I have added to illustrate the fact that this road is not yet mapped.
Here's another example using the same technique of an area where a more complex new road structure was added.
Happy hunting, and do let me know if you had any luck getting rid of your 0. And by the way: don't bother looking up the 2 areas shown in the examples here - as I have obviously submitted edits to add those roads already 😊
Hello @JanVanHaver
Thanks for this post. I'll go hunting right away.
Please may I ask, how do you draw the lines on the roads? I Have been thinking of that "0" alright and hope this will finally get rid of it😉.
Cheers
