One of the first things everyone thinks about when you discuss Google Maps is space satellites. While that could help in terms of imagery, it’s not completely true it defines most of the information on the map.
Let’s follow it this way,
You most definitely have not seen/met anyone from Google trying to follow new routes in Nigeria, so as to upload or update the locations/routes on Google Maps. That would not be cost-effective!
And not any government official contacts Google to inform them of the new roads they had recently constructed. But in a month or two, those new routes and locations are now on Google Maps.
It could be easy for them to achieve such a feat in the US. After all, Google’s an American company.
But Google Maps works in most countries of the world, as long as they use the internet and they can access Google services.
So how does that happen?
How has Google helped to achieve this?
Google Maps is one of the largest platforms operating on crowd-sourced data on the internet.
10 in every 10 Android users have Google apps installed on their phone. And at least 7 in every 10 smartphone users use the Google search engine.
Each time these devices communicate or try to access the internet, Google logs their locations, whether or not their location services are switched on and compares them with other users in the same environment.
This way Google can determine new routes/locations in any given area. Google can determine if there is traffic congestion in your location and notify you.
They’ve also been able to establish a community of local guides they reward for their contributions on Google Maps.
I worked at Studio24, and each time we opened new outlets, within a few months, those outlets appear on Google Maps. Most of the time, I don’t need to add those branches to Google Maps myself, they just appear on Google Maps as more and more customers visit that outlet. That happens because of the efficiency of Google’s crowd-sourcing network. All I need to do is claim the business locations as Studio24.
