Washington: Weeks after issuing an apology for the image of the Android mascot peeing on the Apple logo in Google Maps, Google has temporarily shut down its maps editor, Map Maker, until it can appropriately respond to people abusing the tool.
Spam in Map Maker edits has spiked in recent months, so much so that the team is facing troubles in reviewing both the abuse and legitimate edits. Hence, Google has decided to freeze edits from May 12, reported The Verge.
Team member Pavithra Kanakarajan wrote in a product forums post, "We believe that it is fairer to only say that if we do not have the capacity to review edits at roughly the rate they come in, we have to take a pause."
While Google's review process had been extremely lax previously, every edit is now examined manually. However, it's unclear when an improved tool will be available.
