Ok, so we all know by now that Google  has added a Real Estate purchasing/selling function and 360 degree street views to their site. Now the team behind Google Maps has made some more interesting improvements to the service. First of all, they’ve created a new base map dataset, which includes several publicly accessible geospatial government-created datasets, with information pertaining to toll roads, bridges, road networks and the like.

In practice, this simply means more data and more details in Google Maps. For example, maps of college campuses and cycling trails have been vastly improved; cyclists should soon even be able to check out biking directions directly on Google Maps, a feature which I’ve personally been anxiously waiting for.

The most important new feature, however, has to do with you: the user. On the bottom right of Google Maps you’ll find a new link: “Report a Problem”; you can also find it by right clicking anywhere on the map and selecting it from the drop down menu. It’s not related to technical issues with Google Maps, but rather to mistakes in the actual geospatial data. For example, if you see outdated or just plain wrong data – a street name, direction, or a missing road – you can now report it through this link. You’ll soon be able to see what difference you’ve made, as Google plans to resolve reported issues within a month.Author: Daniel Kanoon