Tech giant Google recently announced that it will reopen its Google Map Maker tool after more than two months of hiatus.
Google product manager Pavithra Kanakarajan made the announcement on a blog post saying that the Google Map Maker tool will be reactivated within the first two weeks of August.
The Map Maker tool allow users to edit the Google Map service. The tool was temporarily taken down by Google due to increasing amounts of digital vandalism made over the Google Map service. The final act of digital vandalism that forced Google to take down the tool was when the image of the company's Android robot urinating on Apple's logo was discovered on Google Maps near the Pakistani city of Rawlpindi, according to The Guardian.
Another reported incident of digital vandalism made on Google Map was when the White House, home of the president of the United States, was renamed in order to depict a certain racial insult.
In order to avoid repeating the same incidents in the past, Google is introducing a new set of rules. Kanakarajan wrote in a blog post, "We're looking for users to now have more influence over the outcome of edits in their specific countries. This means that edits on Map Maker will be increasingly made open for moderation by the community."
In this new strategy, Google will appoint a position called Regional Lead tasked to maintain decorum within a certain location on the Map Maker. The Regional Leads responsibility is to review the edits made on their appointed region, according to PC Magazine.
The Google Map Maker tool will be slowly rolled out starting August. For those interested to become a Regional Lead, Google said that it will send out invitation to users before they can apply.