# How does Google maps update road changes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 20, 2016, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-google-maps-update-road-changes/752698 "2016-04-20T02:00:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Satellite\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Satellite\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satellite_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2016, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-google-maps-update-road-changes/752698/21 "2016-04-23T03:05:32Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Most of it comes from people with Android phones, which (unless you opt out) automatically report data like this to Google. as a not really related aside; as a truck driver, I’m near-constantly using Navigation on my phone. Being an Android, it uses Google Maps. It shows traffic congestion, as different colors on the map; blue is best, yellow is slower, and red is the worst. I kept wondering how they were so up-to-the-minute about this, until it occurred to me that Google is on damned near every phone out there. They see every single one of them, as a dot on a map. These dots are what gives Google all the traffic info they need. The realization of this, and subsequent visualization, blew my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2016, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-google-maps-update-road-changes/752698/22 "2016-04-23T03:39:31Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > And if they did they would be stealing it. > > We do sell it (a different thread, I don’t think we should charge for it). But it is licensed when we sell it. To the buyer. AFAIK, large scale mapping services do not use this data. And if they did, it would be against our license agreement. > > Colorado is just starting to put together this data for emergency service issues for the State. I’m surprised by this. Works by the county GIS department don’t end up in the public domain automatically? I didn’t realize you could copyright geographic data like that – it’s not a map, right, just lists of coordinates? Does your city own the copyright for it? All the cities I’ve bothered looking up GIS stuff for just had all their shapefiles and the such available for download on some small website, and often also listed on some county/state/federal listing of GIS resources (which I just assumed that Google would crawl or otherwise get). Edit: I guess wiki says only federal works are public domain, and the rest are up to states: > **[Copyright status of works by subnational governments of the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_status_of_work_by_U.S._subnational_governments)** > > The copyright status of works produced by the governments of states, territories, and municipalities in the United States varies. Copyright law is federal in the United States. Federal law expressly denies U.S. copyright protection to two types of government works: works of the U.S. federal government itself, and all edicts of any government regardless of level or whether or not foreign. Other than addressing these "edicts of government", U.S. federal law does not address copyrights of U.S Th... ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2016, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-google-maps-update-road-changes/752698/23 "2016-04-23T03:42:29Z")
Also, Google has a Local Guides program that invites people to submit corrections, new places, reviews, and photos in exchange for minor perks: [https://www.google.com/local/guides/](https://www.google.com/local/guides/) Mainly it’s just the satisfaction of knowing you’re helping other folks navigate and find places (especially in small towns that don’t have regular Google car coverage), but you also get invited to random meetups, participate in beta tests for new products/services, and I guess at the highest levels (500+ submissions) be part of some sort of elite circle of OCD wannabe-Googlers… ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2016, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-google-maps-update-road-changes/752698/24 "2016-04-24T03:53:38Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > Another example: My mother in law is building a house in a new estate. The roads have been laid down in the last few months and although there is no recent satellite/aerial photo of the development, the Google map shows the roads themselves. I assume town planners distribute information to map people on a regular basis. Mapping roads is hardly a new phenomenon after all. Another source for such information is the Post Office. Every new development has houses or businesses that will want to get their mail delivered, so they will be sure to notify the post office of these new addresses. (Often, the post office works with them to assign the specific addresses.) The whole postal address database is available for purchase, and at pretty reasonable rates – all the junk mail companies can afford it. (The post office keeps it cheap – they want people to use valid mailing addresses.) Google can certainly afford to use postal info. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-google-maps-update-road-changes/752698.md?page=1)