I am convinced that Google maps runs 'canary routes'. Like a canary in a coal mine testing the air - If I am on a road and it decides to send me down an unused lane, which eventually spits me back out on to the main road, that's when it has decided it needs to refresh the data in that area and I was the unlucky one chosen to do it.
If I was designing it, that's probably what I would add, but I've never seen a reference to it...
I was thinking about this comment, far too often the argument is "what could they do if they aren't getting the help from the Chinese government " etc, and it's all shit. If we were buying something from a little boutique one person seller and we found out that somewhere in the process of making it they used slave labour we would all rightfully kick off. So why do massive companies, who could do much much more, get a free pass yet we hold individuals up to a much higher standard.