GOOGLE is suspending a service that allowed members of the public to contribute to its maps, following vandalism.
Map Maker allowed users to draw features, adding roads, rivers, green spaces and local businesses.
But some edits, such as an image of its Android mascot urinating on an Apple logo, were not as welcome.
Google said that the shutdown is “temporary” but admitted that it will take more than a few days to fix.
Last month, it was forced to apologise for the Android graffiti but since then, several other Map Maker hacks have been spotted.
The service had relied on a mixture of Google reviewers and trusted users to moderate Map Maker contributions, a system which, the search giant now admits, has not been adequate.
Map Maker team member Pavirthra Kanakarajan explained the decision to suspend the service in a post, linked to from the Map Maker page.
“We have been experiencing escalated attacks to spam Google Maps over the past few months… As a consequence, we suspended auto-approval and user moderation across the globe,” she said.
“The most recent incident was particularly troubling and unfortunate — a strong user in our community chose to go and create a large scale prank on the map,” she added.