Apollo 17's famous photo of the ubiquitous Blue Marble released in 1972 was one of the greatest and widely recognized "maps" because of it's accuracy and marvelous depiction of the Earth's monumental beauty.
Compare this image to what was produced in Acient Greece, a time where maps were created by cartographers who believed that the earth was a flat disc. With limited knowledge of the earth, how were they even able to assume a somewhat accurate curvature of shores? Well, early cartographers would go along merchants to the seas and across mountaintops, sketching multiple drawings and comparing them to create local maps.
These days, thanks to GIS, we don't need to risk our lives to scurvy and dysentry to figure out what our land looks like (spoiler alert: the earth isn't flat, thanks Aristotle.) Technologies like Google Maps are constantly updating their maps with through Google Maps cars to show us 3D maps and picture maps. For real-time accuracy, Google owns a mobile application called Waze, where other Waze users can upload live traffic updates that are broadcasted to other Waze users in the area.
In addition to offering real-time mobile traffic updates, Waze users can provide feedback on road conditions, cops in the area (even unmarked police cruisers), and more.
From encyclopedias to wikis, fundraisers to gofundmes, or even soliciting Lays fans as to what the next Lays flavour should be on social media, crowdsourcing allows many users, communities, and businesses with various insights and opinions outside of their filter bubble to arrive at novel solutions - all through the power of collaboration!