Google Maps Further Expands Coverage

Google announced expanded Maps coverage of Latin American and Asian countries on its LatLong blog. Recently added countries include:

Afghanistan, Aruba, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belize, Bermuda, Brunei Darussalam, Bhutan, Bolivia, Cambodia, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Fiji, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), Mongolia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Timor-Leste, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen

Beyond the basic mapping coverage, Google has been relying heavily on My Maps (user and third party content) for data in countries where structured local data and business databases don’t exist or are otherwise hard to acquire. In that regard, the company has reported significant contributions from users in many such situations (see., e.g., Hotels Moscow).

I was recently in Northern Europe (where one would expect good coverage) but was still pleasantly surprised so see how well it worked there for maps and directions, as well as local business information.