I found the way to cheat for the Trailblazer badge on Twitter. Accidentally on my timeline I saw a tweet discuss about “Sate Madura” which open on Zuccheli Station, Antarctica and absolutely I smell something fishy. I continue read it and I found it just a joke for couple of people, so I try to find it on maps and I found this (on the screenshot below).
On Zuccheli Station there is a lot of location which only be found on Indonesia (precisely Java Island) with 0 or few reviews. There are a lot of reviews but it’s all just a jokes and I can guaranteed it is fake places.
I think at first they try to get the trailblazer badges (which the hardest badge for me) or maybe just a joke between friends. I think it’s not wise for them because it can make the tourist search for places for dinner or breakfast and found it empty.
We can make the Google Maps better or worse, try to be honest. It’s just badge after all. We must provide the accurate information.
@Ardhian You are correct to feel this way. So many millions of us depend on Google Maps and the data inside every single day. And many more local businesses depend on it to bring customers to them, to support the local economy. If you find spamy locations or spamy profiles, you can report them. Do read the below 2 links for more information.
Well spotted @Ardhian ! I’ve clicked around a bit there and it indeed looks like the entire area is covered with fake places (which then have fake reviews).
@Giu_DiB can the Google Moderators team have a look? Perhaps this needs to be escalated, as the ability to add POIs on Antarctica seems to be a temptation to hard to resist for some - as @Ardhian suggests this could indeed be linked to attempts to get a badge, or else just people making silly jokes.
So, why not block the region for edits, as is the case in some other regions around the globe - the chance that genuine POIs need to be created there seemes rather slim to me.
Indeed @StephenAbraham when I travelling for work, sometimes I want to search local business like restaurants or gift shop and when I drive there and there’s nothing there it feels so bad.
I hope my 1 report on those places can be approved by google (even I’m not sure) so the real local business there or anyplace will be shown
Thanks for the information @StephenAbraham I can report it further now.
@JanVanHaver yes and don’t bother to click all of them, all of places which from Indonesian Language is all fake.
Yeah I agree with you, please @Giu_DiB you can escalate that. Especially for places like antarctica or maybe we can add place or reviews a place only if we already visit that region.
@Ardhian it is quite sad that Local Guides could cause more problems for users in order to get personal joy? Thank you for sharing. This is a sure way to help improve maps.
Yes I hope we can make better environment. I really love the concept google using community to update the maps and of course problems like this will show up
Thanks for reaching out to us and for reporting the issue. Thank you too, @JanVanHaver , for tagging me.
Have you already tried to suggest an edit on Maps, following the instructions to remove the places as non-existent? We will take actions from our side, too.
I also wanted to let you know that I am moving your post to the How-tos board, which is the most appropriate section for this kind of issues.
Since this is your first post, you can read Your guide to Connect to know more about the forum and its topics.
Thanks for your answer! We are investigating from our side too.
I also wanted to let you know that if you want to tag a member, you can add the symbol @ before the username, just like I did now with you. This way the person receives a notification and you can be sure your comment won’t go unnoticed.
