Google Maps Gets More Social

I’ve never made many connections between maps and people, and whether that’s a common (lack of) thought process or not, I can’t say.  But a new tweak to Google Maps has made the connections quite clear.

Like a user-generated map?  Maybe you’ll like the user, or at least other maps created by said user.  So goes the thought process at Google.

“Starting today, you can find out more information about the people behind these contributions through their user profile pages,” writes Jess Lee, the Google Maps Product Manager.  “For example, if you stumble upon a cool map of a bike route, you can hover over the creator’s nickname and see a snippet of information about them.”
 
Full profile pages are also available, and of course, users are also encouraged to create snippets and profile pages about themselves.  “To create your own profile, simply sign in to Google Maps and click on the My Profile link in upper right hand corner,” suggests Lee.

Making maps social sounds like a gimmick, but in practice, this development seems like a great idea.