Hey Hi, this is Batzee, Batzee??? Sounds unusual? Yes my real name is Amalan, but I got used to my gamer name as user name everywhere and it has become my nickname.
I come from a beautiful Island called Sri Lanka, also known as Ceylon, you guys must have heard this name for tea. Yes we cultivate No 1 tea in the world. I was born in Jaffna, north of Sri Lanka but bread in Colombo , South west of Sri Lanka.
We had a 25 years of War in North and it came to end in 2009. So getting used to Google map and visiting back to Jaffna was a different experience for me. By 2012 when I visited North Sri Lanka Google Map is still blank, at that time we had Google Map Makers, so I joined them and started contributing help Northern province get details added in Google Map. This is the starting point of my contributions to Google map.
But eventually the Google Map maker program/group vanished for reasons I don’t know. In 2013 I started playing Ingress, this is where I actually went street by street and start adding important places to the game. I think Ingress is part of Google those days. And as a Volunteer at GBG Colombo chapter we go around to rural and not yet developed villages find SMSs and help them and encourage them to add their places in the Google map for a better visibility. So from 2012 onwards I am sharing various things in the Google Map.
But still I love sharing and contributing some specific things in Google Local Guide. My Amazing Photos and Reviews whenever I think its necessary or must be appreciated. So I enjoy snapping photos using my phone and put selected ones in Instagram. Occasionally share one or 2 in Google Local Guide, but one day when I saw how much it has reached through a mail. I am kind of got encouraged. So from that day, I never forget to snap photos and upload them as a bunch to the Google Local Guide. The Photos I upload a mostly with no people in it but with high detail or buildings foods structures closely associated with the location name so that it will give a detailed preview of the place as a photo ?
The next thing is my reviews. Whenever I go to a place and have a wonderful time I never forget to add a review. A memorable place a food I have never tasted before or needs an appreciation I write them. Apart from Appreciation and praise there are situation where its your responsibility to help the community know of a change near you, for example ‘the passport office which was in Maradana is now moved to Rajagiriya’, this is something I go after as well, suggesting changes, finding a new building, place, landmarks.
I am a passionate, traveller who likes to go around the world, public speaker who talks on software engineering and Google Business related topics in local communities and some what good photographer, ahhh only with phones ? . Loves playing games like Ingress and Pokemon Go that involves travelling. Sometimes I write a poem and add it to a photo to make it more beautiful, you may have come across one if you are lucky enough ?
Sometimes more than reviews adding an opinion and suggestion is valuable, there are instances where I have gone and changed my reviews after seeing the place has done better than earlier. So for me google Local Guide is like a tool place to look after your community. Update review, suggest improvements, provide information of your community to new people and many more. If this tool can be used wisely it can be utilized for the general good of your community growth and also to give a pleasant experience to people who visit your community.
So Batzee is Going towards being a light house of his community, so why not You ?
