Recently Google announced their Base Map Partner Program for “authoritative” organizations to share their vector data sources as part of the improvement process for base maps in Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google Maps for Mobile.
Currently Google is accepting the following data sets:
- Parks and Protected Areas
- Points of Interest (hospitals, tourist attractions, government buildings)
- New Developments and Construction (residential, commercial)
- Road Networks
- Geocoded Addresses
- Parcel Boundaries
- Bicycle and Pedestrian Paths and Road Facilities
The USGS and USDA Forest Service have already provided improved park and water body data and obviously a number of unknown providers have supplied parcel data. The addition of parcel data to Google Maps has initiated a very interesting post and conversation regarding the source(s), accuracy, and legality of this data.
I should also mention that Google will no longer use TeleAtlas map data for the U.S. and will instead use its own data sources.
