> No, I certainly propose a city should measure it. I propose it be done with taxpayer dollars, open source software, and in an otherwise fully open and democratic way by the city.

This, I agree with. Google is not in this for the "public good".

I know people who are ranked very highly in the Google maps "guide" program. I wonder what kind of witchcraft Google uses to get people to spend hundreds of hours donating information about their cities in order to improve a proprietary map program for free. -_-