A couple of weeks ago, Google finally added accessibility details to Maps. It was a long-awaited addition, but an extremely welcome one for the more than three million people in the U.S, and many more millions worldwide, who require wheelchair accessibility. Maps have currently collected accessibility data for almost seven million places, but even with databases like WheelMap, there were still some pretty big gaps across the country, but I bet that this will be fixed in near future.
This week, Google’s looking to speed the process up a bit by embracing the dataset. Now Android users can open up Google Maps and enter that information for a location themselves. The relevant information is located under the “Accessibility” tab in “Your Contributions.” From there, users can add information about whether a spot has a wheelchair accessible entrance, elevator, restroom and more, which will be of enormous use for the disabled people worldwide.
Once added, that information will be available on Google Maps and search on mobile and the desktop in the Accessibility section of a location’s description. That information is viewable on all platforms, though Google apparently doesn’t have a timeline for when desktop and iOS users will be able to contribute to the growing database.
