Barry Schwartz has pointed out that last week, Google Maps added a chart showing which Google Maps services were available in which country. Maps is a global product that is offered in 200 some odd countries and there are a range of features available depending on licensing and data availability. Thus the matrix is incredibly complex.
From this graphic display of the variation in tools one can infer some of the support, licensing and development difficulties in providing a mapping tool world wide. Obviously in some countries there is no digital data of the roads and no lists for the businesses. If there is, the use of the data may be constrained by licensing issues. Here is a brief summary of the features available in a range of developed and 3rd world countries:
| Country |
Local Business |
Community Edits |
My Maps |
Map Maker |
Building Maker |
| Argentina |
X |
Edit only |
X |
X |
|
| Australia |
X |
|
X |
X |
|
| Brazil |
|
|
X |
|
|
| Belgium |
X |
X |
X |
|
Brussels |
| Canada |
X |
Add only |
X |
|
2 Cities |
| Denmark |
X |
Add only |
X |
|
Copenhagen |
| France |
X |
X |
X |
|
2 Cities |
| Germany |
X |
X |
X |
|
3 Cities |
| Italy |
X |
|
X |
|
Venice |
| Guinea-Bissau |
|
|
X |
X |
|
| Kenya |
X |
|
X |
X |
|
| Sao Tome and Principe |
|
|
X |
X |
|
| Senegal |
|
|
X |
X |
|
| Seychelles |
|
|
X |
X |
|
| Somalia |
|
|
X |
X |
|
| South Africa |
X |
Edit only |
X |
|
|
| United Kingdom |
X |
Add Only |
X |
|
2 cities |
| United States |
X |
X |
X |
|
26 Cities |
[...] Google Mapping Tool Availability Matrix | Understanding Google … [...]
Pingback by Google Local Business Centre for Google Maps — December 23, 2009 @ 7:27 am
Im having difficulty understanding why here in the UK the community Edit program is restricted to “Add only”. It drives me nuts! So much of the info in the local area is wrong. I recently had a problem with our own LBC listing getting “merged”. The only solution I could find was to “claim” the listing of the other bussiness and correct it. It has worked a treat but I am stuck with their bussiness on my LBC account and not sure how to put it back. Anybody have any ideas?
Comment by Nigel Palmer (2 comments) — December 30, 2009 @ 7:15 pm