mbf1

Cloud is an existential threat to Google. Amazon got there first. Microsoft got there 2nd.

Google has a large organization dedicated to map data quality. It's a hard problem to solve - there's money from 3rd parties to be made from spamming the maps. It's in Google's best interest to try and protect the end user from fakes.

Local Guides is one of the many ways you can help police this in your area. Verification is hard. To verify you need evidence and a way to prove it is correct. Proof is hard.

Street View is one of the best evidence sources, but it's not allowed in all countries, expensive, and not updated as frequently as the world changes, and even user-provided street view images can be subject to forgery.

Unfortunately, the best course of action is vigilance. Report errors when you see them.

Ordinary users can suggest changes, but I believe that if you have a Google My Business account that's active in the last 6 months, you get notified and can approve / reject changes.

I don't think the users are feeling baited and switched. They got something for free that most people charge for, and in exchange for early testing got watermark-free level service. Eventually, everything free needs to be paid for.

$50 per year is reasonable. By posting about their project and having that carried on ycombinator, they maybe got the biggest audience of sympathetic users they could ask for. It's a great bit of viral marketing, and I expect they'd see a spike in interest from independent investors as well as a spike in paid memberships.