Adding Photos to City/Town (non-POI)

Good Day,

I see there are guides mentioning on the forum that we are unable to add photos to towns/cities, however several months ago I vividly remember being able to do this for my town of Arviat, now I am unable to. I have included a screenshot of my previous contributions so you can see that I have photos listed under my town, as well as the POIs in town. Thank you in advanced for your help.

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Good work… @OmarCaneo

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Hi @OmarCaneo , and thank you for asking.

According to the help page Add, remove, or share photos or videos in Google Maps “You can’t add photos or videos to addresses or coordinates.”

It means that you can add photos only in places where there is the “Add photos” button, and cities, or regions, are places where the photos should not be added.

The photos that you see when searching for a city in Google Maps are normally sourced by the photos posted by the users in the POIs (where posting photos is possible.)

The only way to post photos in there is to use a workaround, but it is a violation of the rules, as you can see from the link shared above.

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Thank you for the response. The photo I included will show that there are several photos I previously added under “Arviat” (our town) and POI photos are separated (as shown in the photo under “Arviat Health Centre”). Just trying to figure out how these photos are being listed under Arviat as they are not POI based-photos.

Hi @OmarCaneo

The photos you have uploaded to https://maps.app.goo.gl/7St67BFeqEihbbED6 should be deleted by you.

When you visit the Arviat on Google Maps, there is no option to add photos. It is not a POI to which we are allowed to upload photos.

Google has a system to select the best photos uploaded to POIs inside Arviat. So adding them using the workaround, is kind of unfair to other Local Guides not knowing about the workaround. Your images ended up under Arviat because you uploaded them. It can not happen in any other way.

All the best

Morten

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Why should I delete my photos? I came here for clarification and it seems that the matter is only getting more confusing and convoluted lol. You accuse me of a work-around leading to unfair advantage, I don’t even know what work-around you’re referring to. In fact my original question implies I do not know how to upload them under Arviat.

The point is, @OmarCaneo , that the only way to upload such photos is to use a workaround, bypassing in that way the rules given by Google Maps and explained above, in my previous reply. That rule is one of the original ones given by Google Maps, and was never changed.

This is the reason why we are not telling you “how” to do that. Bypassing the rules can put your account at risk, so it would be better also to delete the photos already uploaded in that way.

The real problem is that a workaround do exist, and despite several complaints Google Maps was not working to fix it. Many users are not aware that the procedure is against the rules, and thinking that they are doing well, risk to be suspended.

Hope this is clarifying our previous reply.

@ ErmesT Thank you for that information, that helps provide a bit more context. I was unaware of all this. Personally, I think penalizing people that are essentially volunteering their time to provide Google Maps with more information seems a little extreme to me. Almost makes me not want to upload to Maps in the future if my (free) work can be used against me…

Anyways I guess we can consider this inquiry concluded.

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You are welcome, @OmarCaneo .

There are many ways to contribute in Google Maps, by sharing our experience of the places (POIs) we visit.

And there are many ways to contribute here on Connect, where you are welcome to tell us more about Arviat , and to share your photos with is.

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Hi all,

I also like to learn more about the current rules in this case. To be honest, I still have some doubts that adding photos to boundaries is totally wrong. The only thing clearly stated is that users should prevent content that doesn’t clearly represent the location. So, photos that represent a boundary (such as an overall view or a photo of a famous landmark) still fit in this guideline.

Dear @ErmesT the help article you mentioned, is a technical article and is saying “You can’t” because there is no option in most cases, but it doesn’t say “You shouldn’t”. I agree that workarounds aren’t appreciated but I realized that in some cases, on some platforms, there is an ordinary way to add photos to boundaries. This shouldn’t be considered a workaround by default.

On the other hand, about removing such content from the past as dear @MortenCopenhagen mentioned, I don’t believe it must be done when a photo represents a location correctly. Because previous guidelines may be different from current ones and users did what they were allowed to do. For example, on Panoramio, we had permission to upload photos to coordinates and after discontinuing it, users who moved their photos to Maps, have photos that weren’t attached to any POI (although personally, I did it because I don’t like photos with unknown place :sweat_smile: ). Even on the SV app, we had the ability to add photos without a specific POI. So, I think these kinds of contributions couldn’t be considered as violation.

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Thanks for opening one more view about this subject, @Amiran

I remember an old conversation with Gus Moreira about that subject (don’t ask me to find it, it was really an old one and probably in a closed board of the old Connect) and the answer was no.

A couple of years ago the workaround was closed for a couple of weeks, with several complaints in Connect, but with the next update of the App it was back again.

Maps is plenty of Panoramic points, and similar POIs where we can add our photos, Amir, with a better geotag than photos added on a city itself, with no indication of the position.

Times ago I saw a LG who is using the workaround to add photos in Rome. All the photos added were photos of POIs, but the LG, probably a tourist, decided to save time adding everything to the city itself. Why?

On any case I think that, as the subject is interesting for many LGs, I will escalate the issue with the team

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Hi @OmarCaneo ,

Thank you for reaching out. I see you got some great advice from the fellow Local Guides on the comments above.

Please note that I moved your post to the How-tos board. Here, you can ask questions and swap advice about the Local Guides program and Connect. Thank you!Also, I recommend you read this article: How to choose a topic for your Connect post.

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Thanks @ErmesT for your kind response

Sure, if you have asked Gus, his response is kind of an official view of the team and your statement is enough. This is a great note. Personally, I also support this idea and follow it accurately and guide users based on this since several years ago, but also some official guidance, like what you told me about the discussion with Gus, ensures me that I’m doing right.

I also saw such users. This is totally wrong without a doubt, but also when I reported photos or users nothing happened. Even I guided a user directly, who added hundreds of such photos (of POIs, roads, and even flowers in some parts of the city) to cities, but he continued to do so and even reached level 10 by that kind of activity. This is also one reason I had doubts about the real rule in this case.

(PS: another problem I saw is that some tourists add all of their photos from the city POIs, to the Hotel they stayed in!!)

Yes, I remember that change and don’t know why it reverted.

Finally, I appreciate your help in getting an official response again in this case that represents the current condition.

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@Amiran

Regarding guidelines related to adding photos to areas, roads, cities etc, I just came across this:

Add photos or videos to Google Maps

You can add media such as photos and videos of places of interest**,** like businesses or parks. You can’t add media to:

  • Addresses
  • Coordinates
  • Private residences
  • Geographical areas

Here is the link

I don’t think it can be said with more emphasis or clarity.

I suspect the guidelines have been updated relatively recently.

All the best

Morten

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Thanks dear @MortenCopenhagen

Indeed this is the link @ErmesT also provided here and in other similar posts. I’ve already checked it and when I want to tell someone I use it as a reference.

But as I said this is saying “you can’t” and I assume it means “you are unable to do that technically”. But it could be more emphasized if it says “you shouldn’t”.

Anyway, what @ErmesT mentioned about the discussion with Gus is a good confidence to me. Escalating this to Googlers, for more clear statement is also a very good activity.

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