This Map Speaks Māori

If you get upset about all the World Maps Without New Zealand then you might want to spare a thought for Māori speakers. Even though Google Maps includes New Zealand apparently its automated voice always seems to mispronounce Māori place-names.

To rectify this problem Vodafone and Google have released a new map to crowdsource all the place-names that Google Maps manages to mispronounce. Anyone can drop a pin on the Say it tika map to show a location where Google struggles with the correct Māori pronunciation. All these highlighted place-names will then be sent to Te Taura Whiri i te reo Māori (the Māori Language Commission), who have promised to teach Google the correct pronunciations of Māori place-names.

Most of the locations with Māori language place-names in New Zealand have already been added to the map. If you click on a place-name's marker you can listen to how Google Maps pronounces the name. If Google gets it wrong then you can drop a map pin to inform Google of its mistake.