Count of Photos Uploaded as Captions: Pulse Check

Google Maps tips & tricks
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Hi everyone!

It’s been a while since I wrote one of these troubleshooting articles- and in this case I wonder if this is a bug I’m seeing. Thank you @AdamGT for encouraging me to share this qualm to the rest of the Local Guides. Below I will share details of a potential issue I’m seeing regarding photos and videos uploaded via Captions, and I wanted to do a quick pulse check to see if anyone else is experiencing this. :sparkling_heart:

Issue

My hypothesis is that any photos/videos uploaded via Captions are not entirely being included in the count on your Maps profile page (which is the screen you first see when you open a user’s Map profile- left hand side of screenshot below). The issue manifests itself when viewing your numbers when not signed in.

Side by side comparison of Profile and Contributions tab
Side by side comparison of Profile and Contributions tab779×788 135 KB

Data

The following data is current as of 3/31/2024.

Below are the numbers when viewing my Profile.



Photos (not signed in)

19,575


Photos (signed in)

20,081

Below are the numbers when viewing the Profile Contributions page. The numbers are the same both when signed in and not signed in.



Photos

17,699


Videos

2,370

Total Photos =



20,069



(=17699 + 2370)


Captions

669

Details

On an incognito Chrome desktop window (on my main Profile Contributions page, not signed in)- it shows I have 19,575 photos which is the sum of photos and videos I have that are public.

Then, in that same window (not signed in), I head over to Maps Contributions Data and see I have 17,699 photos and 2,370 videos. That amounts to 20,069.

If I add the number of captions/photos I have (669) to that 19,575 number- the total gets closer to that 20,068 number.

That makes me think that if we upload some of our photos/videos with the new captions/post update feature, that count isn’t being entirely included in the count of photos on the Profile Contributions Page (when viewed by others).

The discrepancy is not too much of a big deal in my mind, but just a random thought I had.

tl;dr
Let me know fellow Guides who are using the Captions feature to photos/videos: are you also seeing this discrepancy of photos count as well on your Profile page (when not signed in)? :blue_heart: :green_heart:

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Interesting and it’s great to see that you went ahead and posted about your experience and findings on this “issue” @AZ_2021 and by doing so, I do hope that others will share their experiences that may confirm the anomaly that you have highlighted.

While I did have a brief look at it when first announced, I myself haven’t been a big user of the Captions feature, and yes I know there are points that can be gained this way. In fact, since early 2020 I haven’t been doing much Local Guiding let alone contributing content to Maps at all. There are just not enough hours in my day.

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Hi @AZ_2021

The difference between photos + videos shown on the detailed contribution stats page and the number shown at the top of your photo contribution list using Incognito mode is normally explained as your number of hidden or taken down photos and videos.

I would not expect media uploaded as captions to also be counted in the photos or video lines on the detailed contribution stats page (the logic be that one contribution should be included in one line only).

But photos uploaded with captions are shown on our photo contribution lists.

We will need to do some testing to confirm if the caption videos and photos should be deducted before concluding how many photos+videos are hidden.

It sure would make sense.

Thanks for drawing attention to this.

Cheers

Morten

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Hello @AZ_2021 ,

This is what I have experienced followed by my post on All About CAPTIONS.

  1. All Photos/Videos uploaded via Captions are getting included in the count on Maps profile page except for the hidden ones. As recent as now I have tested this once again.
  2. The Captions count immediately gets updated and so is the Photo count in case of Public Photo/Video.
  3. In case of hidden Photo/Video, only the Captions count get updated.
  4. The calculation provided in your post here could be just a coincidence that it matches to what you have explained as "…Then, in that same window (not signed in), I head over to Maps Contributions Data and see I have 17,699 photos and 2,370 videos. That amounts to 20,069…'.
  5. I have verified my data pre Captions era and post Captions era and found that the difference is not because of the Captions count but it is because of the number of hidden Photos/Videos. Thanks to @AdamGT and Top 100 System which helped me maintaining such data.

Thanks!

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@AZ_2021 ,

Very interesting question. I don’t believe I have made a post this year that wasn’t through the update tab with a caption attached. I don’t have the detailed stats of @Kumaarsantosh to review, but I can say that between 2024-01-31 and 2024-03-29 I added 5 photos and 22 videos (total images 27), and my caption count for that time frame is 23 (lifetime total 110). I deleted1 duplicate video and 1 video for an place addition that was not approved after the time frame. so the net increase is only 25. My video total indicates the deletion, but Interestingly my caption count of 110 remains unchanged.

@MortenCopenhagen I do think that images with update captions (+10) get counted under images and captions. I’m now curious to see if the captions points remain after the image is removed or is this just a temporary thing.

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Hello @Rednewt74 ,

The example you quoted about deletion of one photo and one video do not contribute to your total points but yes Captions counter remain unchanged because of the fact that the Captions have not been deleted but only 2 contributions (one Photo and one video) have been deleted.

If you are using Android phone, go to your Profile → Other contributions–> Photo updates and you can see your captions without the image for these two deleted contributions and hence the Captions counter remain unchanged.

Actually, we need to delete the Captions contribution in totality following the above path.

Thanks!

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@Kumaarsantosh ,

Interesting. This is not a page I had explored before. Thanks for pointing this out.

I see that if you go to the updates page and delete the caption, it indicates that the captioned image will be deleted as well, thus saving a step.

II’m surprised that they are not linked both ways.

I’ve have kept in mind, since I started using captions, that a deletion would mean a 17 point loss.

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@AZ_2021 I’ve always thought Captions were the count of adding a caption to a video or image posted through the Explore tab. I never tied it to the actual image or video count. This sounds like a coincidence that your variance is the same as your caption count … but I could be wrong.

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Thank you @AdamGT . I appreciate you being so supportive of me sharing. :sparkling_heart:

You are good my friend, and I can relate to what you mean by not enough hours, and I can understand especially with all the additional hours you have to pour in as Moderator- helping others, answering question whilst juggling creation and maintenance of several leaderboards, and so much more. I am in a similar boat as you. I feel this year with my schedule, I have had less time to go on those Guiding sprees where I’d visit several new places every weekend.

Thank you again my friend, yes- let’s see who else sees this bug, or if it’s just a me issue. :hugs:

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Thank you @MortenCopenhagen for your kind and supportive reply. :sparkling_heart:

That is good to know normally the difference is explained as hidden or taken down videos.

As my helpful neighbor @JustJake mentioned, maybe that difference I’m seeing could just be a coincidence where my hidden photo count is the same as captions… :thinking:

And yes, good point @MortenCopenhagen - let’s await and see if others in the comments are seeing this too if they are using captions to post their photos/videos. :couple_with_heart_woman_man:

Thank you everyone for chiming in.

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Thank you @Kumaarsantosh for your detailed explanation friend. :couple_with_heart_woman_man: . I appreciate you linking your helpful post, so I will give that a read.

You have truly gone above and beyond in your reply, such as how you tested it. Now, I see that if the photo was hidden, only the captions count gets updated.

Great point- it could just be a coincidence! Maybe it’s just a me-issue. :two_hearts: Let’s see if any other comments flow in saying otherwise, but you are right- it could just be a coincidence that appeared to be a bug, but isn’t.

1 Like