Category changes - the ultimate overview

Google Maps tips & tricks
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A screenshot of the StreetView image of a place on Maps where I recently changed the category (from drugstore to pharmacy)
A screenshot of the StreetView image of a place on Maps where I recently changed the category (from drugstore to pharmacy)1916×933 397 KB

Beyond any doubt, my favorite topic when it comes to Google Maps is: the categories of the places on Maps. Thist started out by discovering just how much there were - actually in a bit of an accidental way, as I admitted in an early post. After a while I found out that quite a lot of places in areas where I spend most of my time had either an incorrect, or not an optimal category linked to them. And I started stumbling onto inconsistencies in the list of categories available to local guides.

So I decided to dig deeper into the details of what was there and tried to come up with suggestions, posted in Idea Exchange, to improve the current situation. And around that time, I also found a nice way to figure our if anything had changed to the list of categories: news ones being added or existing ones being removed. So, my next move was to start making posts focusing on those newly added categories. Which turned out to be posts that triggered quite a bit of positive feedback from my fellow local guides.

What I want to do now, is make a list of those ‘new categories’ posts - where I will in the future also be adding the new posts I publish on that topic (so: better bookmark this post now :wink: ). Here we go:

There’s also a series of posts looking into the specific category-problems in certain domains. The series is called Categories Explained (?)

BONUS: Here are some posts related to categories, showcasing that the Google Maps team does take feedback into account and corrects mistakes:

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Helo, @JanVanHaver

Yes, the issues about the categories on Google Maps are a really important and complicated topic for me too. There are some categories that depend on each country, so they make more difficult to understand this topic.
Your idea is very interesting. I’ll follow you :slightly_smiling_face: Thank you for sharing!

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For me, @JanVanHaver , choosing the right category for POI is not always easy. Because for some categories it seems only have a little differentiation from one to another.

For example the “drugstore” and “pharmacy”, as you’ve said. For some people, including me, they didn’t know for sure what is the differentiation between a drugstore and a pharmacy. We only know that they both sells drugs/pharmacies. That’s same.

I think the problem is we doesn’t have the clear description of each category listed (or do we have?). If we have this description, I think we could categorized the POI better to its category.

For example in my city, there are some convenient stores that are categorized under grocery store. Or a hawker stall for restaurant. And so on… :smiling_face::smiling_face:

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Actually @HiroyukiTakisawa I am trying to make “categories in international context” a topic that should be treated in some way during Connect Live 2020 (I mentioned it on my application and will do the same if there will be further opportunities to give feedback), so if you want to help getting that realized, that would be great of course. In my view it is really a shame that the Maps team is not leveraging the local knowledge of local guides to also improve this.

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@iorikun301 one of the ideas I entered on Idea Exchange was to provide definitions for categories, but unfortunately that was closed already. This should not cause us to lose hope, however, because another idea I submitted, which had been closed months ago, was recently reopened and is now Implemented.

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I agree with you, @JanVanHaver We will happily support it and provide our knowledge and experiences.

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@JanVanHaver

Hello!
Thank you for information.
Great photo.
Thank you very much.

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Great to hear you find it helpful @ken_jp - and there is more good news: I have noticed there are once again some new categories added and will post on that later today.

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ÂĄHi @JanVanHaver !

I didn´t have any doubt that your passion is editing and categories :grinning: You are a Master of Masters.

“‘Pig farm’” veeeeery curious… Reading you, I am more open to learn a little about these topics. I don´t know why but I am not a fan of editing…

A big hug from the South of Spain,

Alejandra :dancer:t3: .

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If the hug is virtual @AlejandraMaria that is perfectly alright now :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Hopefully AED / Defibrillator will make the cut one day.

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Wow @JanVanHaver el tema de las categorías en Maps es bastante complejo. Muchas veces al agregar un comercio he tenido que elegir la categoría por aproximación jaja Desde siempre hay en mi país comercios de cercanía ciya categoría debería ser “Almacén”, no supermercado (porque no es tan grande), no tienda de alimentos bi tampoco tienda de ultramarinos ( nadie sabe aquí que es éso). Pero sólo Almacén como categoría no existe. Hay terminología que para mí debería adaptarse a cada idioma y país.

IncreĂ­ble trabajo el que haces Jan! :clap:t3: :clap:t3: :clap:t3:

Saludos.

Silvy.

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Indeed @SilvyC in a lot of cases regional variations are needed if you want local guides to use the correct category. I have personal experience with that in my own language, Dutch. For some businesses the word used in The Netherlands is different from what we use in Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium, and that causes a lot of incorrect categories here - or a lot of opportunities to gain points by making corrections, that is of course also a way of looking at it :sunglasses:

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I know this is a fairly old thread @JanVanHaver but I was pointed here after listening to Episode 50 of Lets Guide Podcast. Your reference tothe “drugstore” and “pharmacy” categories was amusing to me, and I agree with @iorikun301 that they are the same. In some countries they’re also called Chemists or Chemist Shops. Would the category options presented to all LGs be the same in different parts of the world?

Nevertheless, following your podcast, I’ve made a start on Category reviews by scrolling down to the bottom of my contributions list sorted by date and checking each POI for potential edits.

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@JanVanHaver The current category options and infrastructure details for schools are misleading for students and parents

Screenshot_2025-04-06-21-27-26-662_com.google.android.apps.maps-edit
Screenshot_2025-04-06-21-27-26-662_com.google.android.apps.maps-edit855×935 55.8 KB

As a Google Local Guide, I identified this issue and made the correct edits — but my contributions were not accepted.

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@Ranu5g have you tried submitting those 3 edits separately, instead all at once? That increases the chance of at least getting some of them approved.