Google has launched a tool that lets users decide what happens with their e-mail, Google Plus and other accounts after they die – or become inactive online for any other reason.

Called ‘inactive account manager’, the feature lets users of Google’s services tell the company what to do with e-mail messages and other data if their account becomes inactive.

For example, Google says, users can choose to delete their data after three, six or 12 months of inactivity, or they can choose specific people to receive the data.

Besides Gmail and Google Plus, other services covered include You Tube, the photo-sharing service Picasa and Blogger.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, says it will warn users through a secondary e-mail address or a provided phone number before taking any action. (PA)

Map makers wanted

Google has asked its users to become “citizen cartographers” by adding cafes, restaurants, shops and sports centres to its maps.

The Map Maker application allows contributors to edit information about places and include features such as fountains, footpaths and political boundaries.

Amateur cartographers can now draw or label features on Google Maps to create precise representations of towns and cities across the country.

Google hopes that by drawing on local knowledge, it can improve the quality of its maps, making them “more comprehensive and accurate than ever before”.

Jessica Pfund, programme manager at Google for Map Maker, said: “People can edit and update anything from historic buildings, streets, agricultural land, to help to give Google Maps a refreshed and detailed level of granularity in areas from local sources.”

Any additions to Google Maps will have to be reviewed and approved before they appear online. Edits can already be made in more than 200 countries and regions across the world.

A note on the Map Maker page states: “By sharing information about the places you know, like businesses in your town or places in your school campus, you can ensure that the map accurately reflects the world around you.” (PA)