Google has announced its first ever Mapping competition, Mapathon 2013 in India. The competition, which starts on 12 February and goes on till 25 March 2013, involves the task of creating better maps for Google. The Mapathon is open to everyone living in India, and participants are required to add their knowledge of local places through Google's Map Maker, a web based tool for improving maps, which was conceptualized in India more than 4 years ago. Google says that the competition is a way of crowdsourcing to get the most comprehensive, accurate and easy-to-use maps of the country.
Google Map Maker allows users to add more detail to Google Maps through a few clicks. Users can select a specific area on Google Maps and add new information, including adding and editing places, based on their own local knowledge or by referencing Google Maps satellite imagery. They can then can save and submit their inputs and after verification of the changes, the new information is added to Google Maps.
