Google Maps now has 150 million Local Guides who are needed now more than ever before
“In 2020 alone, Local Guides added more than 8 million places to Google Maps, from local businesses and services to parks and plazas,” says Google. “And during a year where we saw much change, they went above and beyond and updated business attributes on more than 17 million places in Maps, like if a restaurant offers takeout or is open for dine-in. If you’ve discovered something new in Google Maps or found helpful information about a place, chances are it was with the help of a Google Maps Local Guide.”
Google also says that it is going to be adding a new type of content in Google Maps: photo updates. With photo updates, Google Maps users will be able to find and share experiences and highlights. A photo update for Google Maps is a recent photograph of a place with a short text description; no review or ratings is necessary. You can see the latest photo updates for a location by going to the Updates tab when looking at a place in Google Maps. These pictures could have been snapped by merchants, customers and others. To add a photo, go to the “upload a photo update” button, select your photos, leave a short description and post. There is no limit to the number of photos that you can post and you can also see the photo updates being posted by others in the Updates tab.
While the last new feature is for the desktop version of Google Maps only, we included it with this story since, well, we are generally nice guys and gals. You can now report changes to the roadway by clicking on the side menu and tapping on “Edit the map”, and selecting “Missing Road.” You will have the power to add roads by drawing lines, renaming roads, and deleting incorrect roads. Google will vet these updates before publishing them.
What is easy to see is that the global pandemic has made Google Maps more important than ever. Cities are changing with some places closed or about to shut down and new places soon to open. Whether it is a restaurant, a dry cleaners, or a movie theater, Google Maps is the place to turn to in order to find what you need. And as the world slowly recovers from the pandemic, local information is more important now than it ever was.