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Adding Features‎ > ‎

Adding Roads and Transportation

There are many things you can do with roads and transportation features, including:
To add a road:
  1. Click the Line tool Line tool
  2. Choose Road from the type box.
  3. Start drawing the road using the imagery. View imagery by selecting the Satellite or Hybrid image views.
  4. Double click will end the drawing. Alternatively, press ENTER to end the drawing.
  5. To cancel the drawing, press ESC.
  6. Edit the attributes of the road in the info window. If this road has no known name, do not fill in the Name attribute. You or someone else someone can edit it later to add a name.

Tutorial: How to Add a Road


Things to know:
  • To access many additional features, click Add/Edit details in the info window.
  • You cannot create a road longer than 5 KMs at one time. (see "Extending a road" below.)
  • Use the shortcut key "R" to create roads.
Available non-road transportation features include:
  • Airport
  • Bicycle Trail
  • Bicycle and Pedestrian Trail
  • Bus Station
  • Enclosed Traffic Area
  • Ferry Terminal
  • Gas Station / Petrol Pump
  • Helipad
  • Parking Lot
  • Pedestrian Trail
  • Public Transit
  • Railway
  • Subway Station
  • Toll Gate
  • Train (Railway) Station
  • Transit Station

Drawing Roads in Areas with Low Resolution Imagery

If the road that you are creating abruptly runs in to an area where there is lower resolution (blurry) imagery, try the following:
  1. Zoom in until the tools are enabled. If imagery becomes unavailable (you will see gray tiles), zoom out again until both the tools and imagery appear. Note: Highways are often visible on lower resolution imagery but smaller, local roads are usually not.
  2. Click the Line tool Line tool.
  3. Choose the appropriate category from the type pull down menu.
  4. Draw along the road (represented by a thin line) visible on the image.
  5. If you like, you can mark these edits as having coarser geometric accuracy.
As shown in the images above, you can draw highways in areas where the image is lower resolution. 

Adding Secondary Road Names

The same road may have more than one name. For example, a highway can be identified by a number and a name. Or a single road may have a older name and a new name. In such cases:
  1. Create or edit the road.
  2. Click Add/Edit details.
  3. Under the Overview tab, click Add name.
  4. Add the secondary name for the feature. You can add more than two names. You may also change the 'Preference' of the road, depending on the added name.
   

Extending Existing Roads

To extend an existing road:
  1. Click the Line tool Line tool.
  2. Select Road from the type pull down.
  3. Start the extension by placing the first point on the edge of the existing road.
  4. Start drawing the road.
  5. Double click to end your drawing.
  6. Edit the attributes of the road in the info window.
Tip: Zoom in to see Google Map Maker tools. If you cannot see these tools, try zooming in further.

Editing an Entire Road

As opposed to editing a road segment, you may want to apply an edit to an entire road, for instance, to change the road name or priority. Rather than make that change to each segment individually, you can edit the entire road by doing the following:
  1. Find the road you'd like to edit.
  2. Click Edit on the bottom-right hand corner of the info window.
  3. Click Edit Entire Road section.
  4. Make changes to the attributes in the Info Window.      
Note that you cannot rename a section of a road if it is extended. To rename a section of an extended road,  first have to delete the section and then redraw it as a new road.


Adding a One-Way Street

  1. Draw a road.
  2. Click Add/Edit details at the bottom-left hand corner of the info window.
  3. Click the Attributes tab.
  4. Edit the Direction attribute. Look at the red markers on the map to know whether to label the road "One way (A to B)" or "One way (B to A)

Adding Split Roads

Sometimes roads are divided by trees or cement barriers. If you'd like to be more detailed, you can draw two roads instead of just one. Another option is to specify a "Divider" under Add/Edit details ---> Attributes ---> Divider.

About Splitting Roads

Roads can be split when there is a divider, but there are cases when a road should be split, otherwise you will get bad directions. Roads should be split when:
  • The diver is very wide (example: more than a meter or two)
  • The road is asymmetric (example: there are cross roads that end in one side but do not go through to the other side)
  • The road is asymmetric - (example: there is a circle or other such structure that makes crossing over to the other side asymmetric) 
  • There may be other kinds of asymmetric-like feeder lanes and any one of them is a cause for the road to be split
If the divider is narrow and the road on either side begin and end at the same place, you may not split the road. You can draw a single road with a two way direction. This is seen in the image below.

When the divider is wide and the roads on both sides, either do not meet or end at the same point, then the road should be split. Also, the roads may begin and end at the same point, but can be split for a section of a road. Each road should be given the correct one way direction.




In the above example, the road is drawn as a single road, but it splits into two when the divider becomes wide. Another example of a split road is shown below:


Splitting a Road
  1. You cannot split a road once it has been created. If there is already a road present, you can either:
    • Delete the road and draw two new roads.
    • Move the first road over to follow one of the split roads, mark it as one-way and add a second road. (This is probably easier and preferred.)
  2. If you are adding a new road, draw two separate roads.
  3. Mark each road as one-way and give them the same name and road priority.
There may be other roads that intersect the split road. Only draw road segments between the two one-way streets if there is a way to pass between them (see image below.) These roads may eventually merge back into one road. You can have these two segments snap to connect to a third single line (see "Extending a road" above).   



Green arrow = An intersection with another street where a car could pass between the 2 one-way streets.
Red arrow = An intersection with another street where a car could only access one of the one-way streets.

Drawing a Bicycle Path or Pedestrian Walkway

  1. Draw a line as you would draw a road, but choose one of the following features from the drop-down menu:
    • Bicycle Trail
    • Pedestrian Trail
    • Bicycle and Pedestrian Trail
  2. If the feature you are drawing is not a trail, bicycle or pedestrian area, you can choose to draw it as a Road and choose "Non Traffic" as the Priority.

Adding a Round-About

  1. Draw roads leading up to the roundabout, stopping before getting to the circle. (These will connect to the roundabout later.)
  2. The roundabout needs to be created with at least two lines, so draw one semi-circle. Add lots of points to make the circle smoother.
  3. Make this a one-way street (see "Adding a one-way street" above).
  4. Make the Road Priority of the roundabout the same as the roads leading up to it. (see how to choose Road Priority below.)
  5. Repeat with the second semi-circle, attaching it to the first semi-circle. Choose to Extend Road.
  6. Now extend the roads leading up to the roundabout to connect (see "Extending a road" above).

Adding a Bridge or Tunnel

  1. Draw a road.
  2. Click "Add/Edit details" at the bottom-left hand corner of the Info Window.
  3. Select the "Attributes" tab.
  4. Now alter the "Elevation" attribute. Options include: Normal, Bridge, Skyway, Tunnel

Adding a Flyover or Underpass

  1. Draw an "Road Flyover/Overpass" the same way you would draw a road but choose this from the drop-down menu.
  2. Add the elevation levels. Options include: Underpass 2, Underpass 1, Surface, Overpass 1, Overpass 2, Overpass 3
  3. Edit the other attributes of the road in the info window.
Example:


In the image above, the road in green was marked in one stretch using the "Road" option.
The roads marked in red were marked in 3 sections. The middle section with elevation levels as "Overpass 1,Overpass 1, Overpass 1."
The other two sections in red were created with elevation levels as "Surface, Overpass1, Overpass 1."
The 4 sections in blue were created as One ways with elevation levels also as "Surface, Overpass1, Overpass 1."
Note that the blue sections should touch the green surface road.
 

Drawing Slip Roads


A flyover is one that goes over another road. To capture both the flyover and the road below, we draw what are called slip roads. The slip roads normally begin and end with the flyover. Since the slip roads are on either side of the flyover, each has a one way direction. The slip road also generally has a priority lower than that of the flyover. In the image below, the green roads are the slip roads on either side of the flyover.

Creating and Editing Intersections


An intersection is formed when two or more roads meet. You will not be able to create an intersection point on its own, however, Google Map Maker automatically creates an intersection when two or more roads meet. A thing to remember here is that when two roads meet they intersect, and this is evident when the color of both the roads changes to blue.


In the above image, both the roads have changed hue indicating that an intersection has been created between the two. Now see the image below to understand the difference when the roads do not intersect.


You can also form an intersection on a single road. This happens when a long stretch of road gets broken up into sections. Each section then intersects with the other section to form an intersection point.

You can also edit an intersection. You can move the point, assign a name or suggest turn restriction. However, if you drag an intersection point and drop it at the end of another road, no intersection will be formed. In order to form an intersection, you have to draw and connect the two roads.

Roads in a single stretch

Do not draw more than one road in a single stretch. This means, not draw two or more roads in a single stretch. Look at the example below for further clarification.


In the above image, the horizontal and vertical roads are drawn as one road. This is incorrect as both these are different roads and should be drawn separately. Also, both these may have different road names, but when drawn as one road, only one road name can be given.

The above image, is correctly drawn.

Choosing a Road Type / Priority

Some roads are bigger, get more traffic and are more universally recognized than other roads. The distinctions below should give you an idea of how you should classify the roads you are drawing.

National Highway - The national highway network is a system of roads connecting all the states/provinces and important administrative territories of the country. It also acts as the major network of highways connecting the country's largest and most important cities. These are usually marked as Primary Highway.

State/Provincial Highway - Important urban and inter-regional routes that are not covered by the National Highways are marked as state or provincial highways. These are usually called the Secondary Highways. They support reasonable volume of traffic but are not big enough or connected enough to be national highways.

Freeways/Expressways - A freeway, also known as superhighway, autoroute, autobahn, dual carriageway, expressway, or motorway depending on the country where present, is a type of road that is designed for safer high speed driving through the elimination of intersections and crossings. An expressway is distinctly different from a national highway in that there are very limited intersections. These are conventionally called Limited Access or Controlled Access roads.

Controlled Access Roads - These are roads which usually have a toll associated with access to them. One needs to pay a surcharge to be able to access these roads. They are usually elevated and are free from slow moving traffic.
Limited Access Roads - These are roads which have limited number of intersection points along them. They are different from the controlled access highways in the sense that a toll is not charged to access them. They also support high speed traffic.

Major Arterials - Any moderate or high-capacity road in an urban area can be classified as a Major Arterial. These act as the spinal roads in a city/town. Every city or town of reasonable size will have at least 1-4 major arterials of note. They are those most important roads in any city that support huge volumes of traffic. They also act as entry or exit points in many cities. They are noted for the lack of residential entrances directly on to the road. Often, commercial areas such as shopping centers, gas stations, and important business houses are found on these roads.

Minor Arterials - A minor arterial usually facilitates traffic flow from one major arterial to another (or) collects traffic from local roads and distributes to major arterials. These are generally not too long.

Local Roads - At the bottom of the hierarchy are local roads or streets. These roads have the lowest speed limits and usually carry low volumes of traffic. In some areas, these roads may be unpaved. Also, busy roads around market areas can potentially fall under this category because the volume of motorized traffic supported by these roads is very low.

Non Traffic - These are roads on which cars are not allowed to drive or do not drive on. A classic example is the small roads that wind through many golf courses. Also see the following non-Road line category types: Bicycle Trail, Pedestrian Trail, Bicycle and Pedestrian Trail

Terminal Roads - Though the category terminal road promotes the thought that a terminal road is one that ends abruptly, the correct definition of a terminal road with reference to Map Maker is "A road that passes through private or public establishments but does not support any level of public transportation or vehicular access apart from the vehicles that have priveleges". For e.g., there are some roads that pass through universities which are wide and have an asphalt surface but do not allow public vehicular transportation. These will be termed terminal roads. To further simplify, a terminal road is different from a non traffic road in that it supports vehicular traffic but does not allow public transportation. These roads will not be considered for routing when a user searches on driving directions.