Edit the map directly

Provide Edit Details

1. On the Home page click Contribute in the Edits card, or in the navigation panel, click + Contribute > Edit map directly.

2. This will open a window to begin the edit process, where you will be prompted to input the following:
   • The Name of the direct edit.
   • A Description of the direct edit. Be as detailed as possible in your description.
   • The feature type you want to edit from the Data Type list.
   • The address, lat/long, or geocode in the search bar to narrow down the location of your edits.

3. Click Next.

Edit the map

4. Use the map editing guide below that corresponds to the data type you chose in Step 3.

Edit the map - Roads

Depending on the required edit, you can either select Fix a road or Add a road. See the sections below for information on how to submit your specific edits.

• Click X to return to the previous screen (Provide edit details).
• Click ⮌ to undo the last edit you made and go back to the previous screen.
• Click ↷ to redo the last edit you made and proceed to the next screen.
• Select a road on the map to start editing an existing road.
• Click the + Add a road button to create a new road.

Use the map to add or fix a road.

 

Troubleshooting Tip: How to navigate back to the Provide edit details page

If you want to navigate back to the Provide edit details page without reverting your edits, follow these steps:

a. Click on Provide edit details.

b.  Edit the details as desired.

c. Click Next.

d.  From here a Leave site? dialog will appear. Be sure to click Cancel.

e. You will then be taken back to the Edit the map page where you left off. 

Add a road

a.  Click the + Add a road button to create a new road.

b. Click on the map where you want to begin creating a road. A dotted line will extend from this point and follow your cursor to indicate where the fist road segment will be.

c.  Click to add points of the road.

d. To finish drawing the road, you can do any of the following:

• Click on an existing road (which will connect the new road)
• Double-click in the map area
• Press the Escape key
• Click ✓ Finish drawing

e. Once a road is drawn, you must select the associated radio button in the Road type list.

f. (Optional) Name the newly created road. 

g. Click Done.

 

If you forgot to assign a road type, an error message will appear when you click Done.

h. When you are satisfied with your new road, click Submit.

Fix a road

a. Select a road segment you want to edit.

Editing road segments

• Our roads are broken into segments. This has no impact on users; it is solely a back-end concept.

• You can only edit one road at a time, but you can edit another road later as part of the same submission.  

• The initial edit can be a single segment, multiple segments, or all segments of a road, as long as they are all a part of the same road.

• If the road segment isn’t broken up enough, choose the segment that best represents the edit you want to make, and ensure you also provide the starting and the ending lat/longs that represents the segment you want to edit. 

• If you want to deselect a segment, you can left-click on it.

b.  Choose one or more of the following types of edits you’d like to make to the selected road segments.

Road name - Add or fix a road name

Use the text field to edit the road name.

Road shape - Change the shape of the road

You can change the shape of the road by clicking/dragging points or adding/moving points. You can also click on the points to delete them.

Closed or blocked - Report as permanently closed, or blocked due to an accident or event

While optional, using the selections to provide more info on the closure will help to ensure that the correct closure is made. If you wish to provide additional information, such as the directionality of your one-way closure or an end date of the closure (i.e. 45 days) as opposed to an exact date, please add this information in the Add a note section.

Road Closure Addendum I: When you need to either:

• Adjust the reopen time 
• Extend the affected road segments  

Select all the relevant roads and submit a new Closure-type edit with the correct start and end times. This will replace the existing closure to cover the full closure area with the corrected times.

Private road - Mark road as private access only

While optional, adding more detail on the private road can help provide context to the operator who will be reviewing your edit.

Remove road - Mark road as non-existent

You cannot include any additional information for this type of edit. If there is any nuance you want to convey, be sure to use the Other edit type.

Traffic direction - Edit the direction of traffic

While optional, including extra information about how the traffic directions need to be edited is critical to ensure a correct map change.

Other - Report other problems with road info

Additional information must be included in the Add a note field in order to submit an Other type edit, so that the correct edit can be made based on your note.

You can also use the Other edit type in conjunction with the Road Closure edit to provide additional nuance to your edit.

Road Closure Addendum II: When you need to either:

• Reopen a road immediately
• Shorten the affected road segments  

Select the relevant roads that should be open and submit a new Other-type edit, including a note to indicate that the roads are no longer closed or should not be part of the nearby closure. 

c.   Once you have made all necessary edits, click Done.

View details

If you zoom in on an area where you have previously submitted an edit to create a new road, and that edit is still pending, the proposed road will appear as a dotted orange segment. The Add or fix a road panel will also include a View details section.

You can view additional information about the pending edit by then clicking on the dotted segment.

 

Finalizing Your Edits

5. The following actions are available once you click Done:
   • Click X to navigate back to the previous screen (Provide edit details).
   • Click ⮌ to undo the last edit you made and go back to the previous screen.
   • Click ↷ to redo the last edit you made and go forward to the next screen.
   • Click the trash-can symbol next to the edit to delete the edit. If you removed the only edit you will be returned to the screen on step 5.
   • Click a road on the map to start another edit.
   • Click the + Add road button if you want to create a new road in addition to your other edits.
   • Click Submit to finalize your map edits, and send them to be reviewed.

6. Repeat step 4-5 until you've completed all your edits, then click Submit. Congratulations, your edits have been submitted!

My Map Edits

7. To view your map edits, click My map edits in the GMCP navigation panel.

You can sort and filter your edit submissions under My map edits by clicking the column headings or Add a filter, respectively.

8. Shortly after submitting your edits, you should receive an email from Google Maps to thank you for your map contributions. There will be a See your contributions button at the bottom of the message, which will take you to the Google Maps Contributions portal where you will be able to view and interact with all of your submitted edits.

9. As your proposed edits are reviewed and implemented, both the My map edits page and the Edits page (within the Google Maps Contributions portal) will be updated.

Troubleshooting Tip: How to submit a question about your direct map edit

a. While on the My map edits page, select the specific edit submission you have a question about.

b. In the central pane there will be a Communication section where you can leave (or receive) messages regarding your direct edit submission. 

You can navigate back to this Edit the map directly help page by clicking Learn more in the Edits card.