'Citizen cartographers Help Google Maps update North Korea

Landscape maps of North Korea were for decades largely untouched, but thanks to a "community citizen cartographers" Google Maps was able to fill in some blanks.

Tapping entry subject to its Google Map Maker tool, the Web giant has added more detailed, updated information to its maps of the nation alone, including street names and other points of interest.

Jayanth Mysore, senior product manager of Google Map Maker, the purpose of a business blog publishing effort behind the assembly of new data:

      To construct this map, cartographers community citizens met in Google Map Maker to make contributions such as adding road names and points of interest. This effort has been active in Map Maker for several years, and today the new map of North Korea is ready and now available on Google Maps. As a result, anyone can access maps of North Korea that provide much more information and detail than ever before.

One area where change is most apparent is in the city of Pyongyang, where highways, parks and subway stations even have been added. Google has provided the following examples: The additions come just weeks after Google, Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman visited humanitarian controversial in countries where authorities warned that global Internet access was essential to the development its economy.