We’re excited to continue our Ask a Googler series with our guest, Ian Leader, a Product Lead for Google Maps User Generated Content.
Many of you reached out with some great questions for Ian. Before we dive into those, we asked him a few questions we thought you’d be interested in to get to know him a bit more. As we shared in our previous post, Ian leads a team of product managers who bring your contribution experiences to life, and he’s here to answer your questions about reviews, photos, your profile and following experience, and more.
Read on to learn more about him.
Are you a Local Guide? Why or why not?
Yes. I’m a Local Guide Level 8 in Japan. I enjoy writing reviews (especially for places with no English-language reviews) and I enjoy getting the monthly progress report emails.
What’s your favorite type of information to contribute on Google Maps?
I probably don’t have a favorite—I enjoy contributing reviews, but I also really like fixing problems I find on the map from opening hours to one-way streets.
If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
If I had to pick one, it’s Antarctica, maybe Mount Vinson and the McMurdo Dry Valleys.
Local Guides Q&A with Ian
Editor’s Note: Some questions submitted by Local Guides below have been edited for length and/or clarity.
@KamalHossenR from Bangladesh asked: What are the things that you think a review should include?
Answer: Thanks for the question. We have a Help Center article on this, but two things I always try to do are include photos and mention something specific (like a dish, a sight, or a staff interaction) that I experienced.
@iorikun301 from Indonesia asked: Sometimes, Google hides contributions because they feel that these contributions have violated Google’s rules. Do Ian and the team plan to add a feature to notify contributors that some of their contributions have violated the rules, along with an explanation of which rules have been violated (like indecent content)?
Answer: Thanks for the question and suggestions. We’ve been making improvements to transparency, for example showing the status of factual edits in the Google Maps app. We’ll continue to invest in this area but we don’t have any plans to announce right now.
@LaloPadilla from Mexico, Connect Moderator and Guiding Star, asked: Do you plan to add a category for photos that show accessibility features, like we have for ambience, menu, 360?
Answer: We do add new categories (you might have seen quite a few new ones already this year), but we don’t have any plans to add one for accessibility features right now. Please do continue to upload relevant imagery though, as the more we have to work with, the easier it is to add this type of feature.
@Shola4sure from Nigeria and @DrShaunak from India asked: There are some photos that are against the rules, like selfies, and some of them are even featured. Is it in your scope to look into this? We do our best to mark them as inappropriate, yet there are thousands of them.
Answer: We use automated systems and human operators to moderate photos and other content types. Photos with people’s faces don’t necessarily violate our policies, and can sometimes be useful, but we have made changes to our systems recently to suggest fewer photos for upload that prominently feature people’s faces. Thank you for flagging low quality or policy violating imagery when you see it!
@AdamGT from Australia, Connect Moderator, asked: Scrolling through our photo and review contributions is painful; in fact, for volume contributors, it’s currently impossible. This is a longstanding issue that has been reported. Is it possible to provide additional sorting options to these contributions to help overcome the current scrolling problems?
Answer: Thanks for the suggestion, Adam. We don’t currently have plans to change this, but I’ll pass the suggestion on to the team.
@StephenAbraham from Malaysia, Connect Moderator, asked: When sharing photos on Maps, is it better for the photo to be in portrait or landscape orientation, or it doesn’t matter as long as the orientation best describes the place (for example, landscape for vast areas, portrait for taller objects)?
Answer: Maps and Search show photos in a variety of orientations and crops, so, as you suggested, I’d focus on taking great photos over optimizing for the orientation.
@Amiran from Iran asked: Is there any plan to fight follow-and-get-follower activity on the map?
**Answer:**We have capped the total number of profiles you can follow to focus on following profiles that are meaningful to you.
@CeciliaRatto from Argentina, Connect Moderator and Guiding Star, asked: Do you plan any evolution in the Follow functionality? Nowadays, we can follow people and be followed, but we can’t interact with them.
Answer: We don’t have any specific plans to announce right now, but we do want to make following more fun and useful. For example, we hear your suggestions for features that make it easier to find people to follow and interact with other users on Maps, and we’re taking them into consideration.
@davidhyno from Italy asked: Will we one day be able to upload a small video as a profile picture in Maps so we can better present ourselves and make it more original?
Answer: Great suggestion, I’ll pass it on to the team.
@LuigiZ from Italy, Connect Moderator, asked: Are there plans to add new types of contributions, which we don’t currently have in Maps?
Answer: We frequently experiment with new content types. For example, we launched Photo Updates earlier this year. We don’t have anything to announce right now, but we’ll definitely let the Local Guides community on Connect know as new features launch.
@KamalHossenR from Bangladesh asked: What type of contribution is most valuable to you on Google Maps?
Answer: I wouldn’t say one type of contribution is more valuable than the others, as different people like to consume the same information in different formats. Please keep contributing high quality content in the format that you enjoy sharing!
@Chuan_Chee from Canada and @CeciliaRatto from Argentina asked: Why do some contributions, such as edits, take a long time to be approved, and others are approved instantly? Do you have any tips for us about what we can do to have our contributions approved faster?
Answer: We use automated detection systems, including machine learning models, that scan the millions of contributions we receive each day to detect and remove policy-violating content. We also deploy teams of trained operators and analysts who audit contributions both individually and in bulk. We’re continually working to improve the process as we strike the right balance between speed of updates and information verification. As for your second question: Yes! For some contributions, such as changing the hours or open/closed state of a place, you can choose to upload a picture that can be used as evidence. This greatly helps our machine learning models and trained operators to quickly make a decision on your edit.
@Shola4sure from Nigeria asked: Will the desktop Road Mapper become part of Maps?
Answer: The Road Mapper tool will not be integrated into Google Maps due to intricacies related to how and where we offer mapping challenges. This is quite different from how road editing works on Google Maps. We also aim to keep Road Mapper as a small community of mappers rather than opening up to all Google Maps users to ensure we can review all of your submissions within a few days.
@PritishB from India, Guiding Star, asked: What feature of Google Maps do you like most?
Answer: Google Maps has so many great features, so it depends on what I’m doing. I love how navigation is always up to date—whether it’s traffic data for driving or delays on public transport; or satellite imagery when I’m exploring the countryside from my couch; and, of course, I love using your contributions to find great places to visit, from restaurants to art galleries, to wild hot springs!
@LaloPadilla from Mexico, Connect Moderator and Guiding Star, asked: What is the highest mountain you’ve ever climbed?
Answer: The highest mountain I’ve climbed is Monte Rosa (Punta Zumstein, 4,563 meters) on the Italian/Swiss border. I think the highest I’ve ever been is camping at ~5,000 meters near Laguna Sibinacocha in the Peruvian Altiplano.
@Pratik_89 from India asked: How much weight do you carry when mountain climbing? How long have you stayed in a tent in the mountains, and how did you manage food?
Answer: I carryas little as possible. 
It can be anything from a few kilograms for some ski mountaineering objectives to 18 kilograms for a multi-day self-supported trek. I’ve stayed in a tent for about seven days with lots of dehydrated and high-energy food.
@Yasar-Demirbas from Turkey asked: What are the things you would recommend to those who are starting out in mountaineering?
Answer: I’d recommend getting the right training and finding a good mentor to learn from. In many countries, there are mountaineering clubs that exist to serve exactly this need. There are great resources on the internet as well, but for physical activities, you really need in-person training and practice.
@Mukul_Anand from India asked: What is your craziest experience so far?
Answer: Mount Fuji was pretty unique—that’s one I’ll never forget. This spring, I skied from the top of Rishiri Island (a volcanic island north of Hokkaido in Japan) all the way to the beach and then walked the last ten meters or so into the sea. What’s next is a secret. 
Stay tuned to hear more about the next Googler in our series soon! Want to see other posts in our Ask a Googler series? Read previous posts below:
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