How does Google update its maps?

Google Maps, the application that most users have on their cell phones and that helps them reach their destinations, was not always the advanced platform that it is today.

The proposal for a tool that allows locating houses, shops, buildings and streets was launched in 2005, revolutionizing the digital world with interactive maps just a few clicks away. In the more than 15 years that have passed since its launch, Google Maps has gone from being an ambitious project to an active application that receives more than a billion visits each month.

The reason for the validity of Google Maps is simple: the platform is constantly updated and adds necessary functions for its users. Its technology allows you to save favorite places and create routes between various points, order food or call a home transportation service, send SOS alerts in case of emergencies, register businesses, among other features.

For this reason, many wonder how Google keeps its maps updated with the new roads and addresses of each city, as well as information on traffic and the fastest routes. The answer is that Google Maps handles huge amounts of data from official sources in each location that appears on its map, as well as images with which it creates satellite views.

The images are obtained by Google in two ways: aerial images captured by Earth-observing aircraft and satellites, and street-level data obtained by Google’s own Street View project. The latter enables the option to locate yourself at any point on any street on the map and obtain a 360 degree view.

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Aerial imagery provides Google with road and building details, while street-level imagery helps yield road names, traffic signs, building numbers, and business names.

To handle the amount of data, the tech giant uses machine learning libraries and frameworks that can process the same number of buildings in a year as it previously took 10 years to process.

However, the images provided by Google are not all recent. They can be even more than three years old, so they are not the most reliable source for visual location. What helps to complement the maps is the information provided by the users themselves.

Google Maps receives more than 20 million entries from its users every day, with photos, contact details of a business, ratings for a place, traffic reports, etc.

As Google Maps turned 15 on February 8, 2020, Senior Vice President Jen Fitzpatrick recognized what a daunting and never-ending task it is to create a digital map.

“It requires building and curating an understanding of all there is to know about the physical world, and then bringing that information to people in a way that helps them navigate, explore, and do things in their world. The real world is infinitely detailed and always changing, so our job of reflecting it is never done.”

(YO)