Google really did a good one for the community this time.  I've been waiting for something like this to happen, and it's no surprise that Google is the one to _launch_ such an idea.  Today Google opened up a version of Google Maps of the United States to their users, essentially making Google Maps a type of "Wikipedia", meaning that anyone can go on there and add businesses, correct things, edit the "digital world" to help make it a more accurate picture of the world that we are walking around in.  **Big Win.** It is called [Google Map Maker](http://www.google.com/mapmaker). To quote the article: > You know your neighborhood or hometown best, and with Google Map Maker you can ensure the places you care about are richly represented on the map. For example, you can fix the name of your local pizza parlor, or add a description of your favorite book store.  You can help make the map complete in other ways as well, such as marking the bike lanes in your town or adding all of the buildings on your university campus so they appear in Google Maps. Now anybody who knows me, _knows_ that as soon as the weather permits I'll be out jotting down notes on my BMX, taking specific notes for where the newly created bike lanes in West Allis exactly start and end so I can submit this information to Google Map Maker.  **Why is something like this so incredibly wonderful?** Because Google plans to actually make use of this information. > To confirm Map Maker user contributions are accurate, each edit will be reviewed. After approval, the edits will appear in Google Maps within minutes—dramatically speeding up the time it takes for online maps to reflect the often-changing physical world. To see examples of what people around the world are adding to Map Maker, you can [watch mapping in real-time](http://www.google.com/mapmaker/pulse). **WARNING!** I will not be held responsible for any amount of time _you waste_ by clicking that link.  It is amazing to watch the edits of the world that people make in real-time, IDK – it just _is._ So while I have not added anything yet to this map, I'm certain that I will in the future.  The only thing that I can honestly say that would 1-Up this system, is to let us users control some more of the "content" that goes into the business information.  I'm certain there are many people out there like myself who would love to know the _store hours_ of places they have looked up on Google Maps, and many places do no list their store hours for various reasons but always have their hours listed on the door when you go walking in. I would love for the ability to submit _user-submitted store hours_ for stores on Google Maps or Google Places, whatever you want to call it.  Who is with me on this? **♇**