Curious how long it'll take you to get to Level 10?

JR_Curley · December 14, 2017, 12:06am

I was checking out my contributions screen on Maps today and saw that I’d moved to the next level (8! Yay!) without noticing. That made me wonder what it’d take to get to the mythical Level 10, attained by the few, the proud, the L10 Local Guides.

Since I rarely do map edits, I wanted to break down what I’d have to do in order to attain Level 10 and how long it’d take. If you’re like me and don’t do a lot of maps edits, here are some fun numbers!

If you’re a Local Guide starting at 0 points, you need…

Reviews alone a 5 points a pop — 20,000 reviews to reach Level 10
Reviews alone with more than 200 characters are 10 points — 10,000 reviews with 200+ characters to reach Level 10
Rating alone at one point — 100,000 ratings to get to Level 10
Photos alone at five points a photo — 20,000 photos to get to Level 10
Videos alone at 7 points — 14,285 (and a bunch of other numbers after a decimal point) videos to get to Level 10

I didn’t include Edits (20,000 to get to Level 10) since I rarely do those, as well as Places Added (6,666 to get to Level 10) or Facts Checked (100,000 to get to Level 10) since finding a place that needs edits, or is new is rare where I live.

So, since I currently sit at 16,000 points (roughly), I need 84,000 more to get to Level 10.
Since I almost always do reviews with over 200 characters, that’s 10 points each, which is 8400 reviews (200+ character count) to get to Level 10!
I average less an a single image per review, so if I round up and pretend I’ll do a picture per review, that’s 5,600 reviews (200+ character count) with an image to get to Level 10.

I started with City Experts back in 2014, and currently have 768 reviews.

That’s roughly 260 reviews a year average.
That means at this speed, I’ll attain around 3900 points a year (remember, I’m guessing each review will net me 15 points average).
Since I need 84,000 points…if I my math and forecasting is correct (it’s probably not), I’ll reach Level 10 in 2038.

How long will it take you to get to Level 10?

Massive props to all Level 10’s. Your contributions are huge and awesome!

iyudhi · December 14, 2017, 2:02am

I haven’t counted. but it’s probably going to take me quite a while to get to level 10 It’s all good though, quality over quantity right?

KarenVChin · December 14, 2017, 2:52am

@JR_Curley , very interesting topic. For me, I just noticed this morning I received an additional 2000 points. I am now past 18,000. I believe it’s because all my reviews are more than 200 characters and I am guessing I am finally receiving the extra 5 points per review for al my previous reviews prior to the additional 5 points if you write more than 200 characters.

My Local Guides points philosophy is I review, upload, edit, and/or add when it’s convenient for me and is part of my life. I don’t go out of my way or obsess about keeping up with my fellow Local Guides. I find “check the facts” or answering the auto questions the easiest.

I agree with @iyudhi , it’s all about quality vs quantity for me.

For me to reach Level 9 (35,000) by #LGSummit18, my rough math calculation:

I need 17,000 points. Starting January 2018 for the next 10 months, I need to average 1700 points / month. Break it down to 30 days / month, I need to avg 57 points / day.

This 57 points number is very doable. That’s like two great reviews with uploading a few photos and answer all the auto questions.

What I am driving at JR is to look at the next level and go from there. If you just look at Level 10 as the ultimate prize, it’s way too frustrating / intimidating. Enjoy the moments as you go, know that you are helping / contributing to your community, and sooner rather than later you will reach it.

Cheers,

Karen

SP31 · December 14, 2017, 3:09am

@JR_Curley , I’m reading this post in astonishment haha. Nice breakdown - and agreed, props to the level tens out there! Pretty wicked seeing it explained in that manner. Being an LG definitely takes a ton of dedication. My math would probably wrong if I attempted to calculate but it’ll probably take a few years for me to get to ten for sure at my rate with work and school lol.

JR_Curley · December 14, 2017, 4:03am

To all - this post isn’t based on any level of frustration around the points system or the Level. It’s simply a fun post focusing on looking at how to calculate reaching these levels.

@KarenVChin I like your break down for a daily goal! If I look at my own schedule, realistically, I’ll perhaps see an average of four new locations a month. Since I’m still a struggling photographer (I still find it very uncomfortable to take tons of pictures inside establishments/while eating), I’ll probably average a single picture per post. That makes my monthly average points in the 60 points zone. That’s 720 points a year.

If I wanted to hit Level 9 by next Summit (+33,000 points), I’d have to go bonkers. Realistically the only way I could attain that would be a photo and video marathon (6,600 pictures or 4,714 videos or roughly 20 photos a day or 15 videos a day.

Either way, a great way to break down any Local Guides goal for attaining another level.

@iyudhi I’m 100% with you on this. From day one of joining City Experts, quality and reviews were always most important to me. What better way to share details and experiences than through the power of story?

@SP31 yup!

iyudhi · December 14, 2017, 4:14am

Oh no don’t worry @JR_Curley I didn’t get any impression that you were frustrated by the points/level system from your original post

JeanRV · December 14, 2017, 11:45am

Hello @JR_Curley ,

Thanks for your interesting question and thanks for using the Connect forum.

I have reached level 10 on September 17th, 2017:

It took me about three months to reach level 10. On June 13, 2016, when the new levels were created, I had about 80000 points. Pareto law does not work for reaching level 10.
It took me about one year to reach level 10 from my start in August 2016.

On August 2016, 23rd, I received my first record mail from *Google Local Guides <noreply-local(dash)guides(at)google(dot)com>: “*Vos photos ont du succès ! Vos photos ont aidé d’autres utilisateurs plus de 1 000 fois, ce qui est pour vous un nouveau record Google Maps 1 542 vues”

In this mail there was information about the number of view of my first photos:

Posting on Google Maps and interacting with other Local Guides has been very rewarding. I wish I had more time to spend on this business.

Have a great day!

JR_Curley · December 14, 2017, 3:30pm

That’s amazing @JeanRV !!!

Looking at our lovely points breakdown, what was your reviews/photos/edits habits that had you attain Level 10 so quickly? That’s a significant amount of work!

MiaMaria · December 14, 2017, 3:39pm

Oh wow, that’s an impressive article you wrote!

You are right, it’s a lot of work to reach Level 10 but if you take tiny tiny steps every day, eventually you’ll make it:)
Just keep going!

I started as a Local Guide in September and I’m currently Level 8 with 25,000 points

I really love being a Local Guide and hope to reach Level 9 in the new year!

Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

Best,

Maria

GenerolHavoc · December 14, 2017, 3:50pm

Hello All

Hmm , I know I started as a Local Guide just after I got back from America which was around 8th November.

I’ve just become a Level 6 so I guess 4-6 month maybe for a Level 10 though it depends on what you are doing and how much time you can spend on Local Guides.

Neminath · December 14, 2017, 4:01pm

@JR_Curley , wow nice calculation.

I have simple one for me.

I also not much in edits, I do photo uploads and reviews.

So here is my plan - I tried this 2 weeks back it worked

One weekend in every month I will take my smartphone, my moped and will be out for my own photo drive.
I will try to get at least 300 photos in my area, this is very much achievable, right?.
So every month you will earn 1500 “additional” points
I said “additional”, because, I will be doing my regular uploads and review as and when possible.
Currently I am around 16000, So to reach level 10 I will required ~3 years
So ultimately my target to reach level 10 is by Year 2022.

What say ?

AlexPssn · December 14, 2017, 4:48pm

@KarenVChin , I think Level 9 is 50,000 points, so you’ll have to redo your calculations.

I’m 25,147 points from level 9. So I’ll need to average 83 points per day (combination of 16 pics/reviews) for the next 10 months to reach level 9 by Summit 2018.

That is assuming,

there is another summit,
I make it to the summit,
I’m not sure when the summit submission deadline
What will be the level requirement for the next summit (Level 10?)

Either way, I have 10 months to double my points that took me 2 years to hit. I see a lot of Level 10 LGs have 5000+ photos, I’m at 1600, so I have a ways to catch up.

AlexPssn · December 14, 2017, 4:55pm

@JeanRV , Wow! 20,000 points in 3 months, that’s impressive, I’m at 25,000 points in 2 years. Don’t think I can get to Level 9 in 3 months.

AlexPssn · December 14, 2017, 5:03pm

@Neminath , I like your idea of a monthly photo drive. Like @KarenVChin , I’m trying to focus on Level 9 for now.

KarenVChin · December 14, 2017, 9:05pm

Thanks for correcting me @AlexPssn ! So I need 32,000 points, instead of your 25,147 points, by Summit 18, instead of 18,000, to reach Level 9.

If I redo my math calculations:

3,200 points / month or 107 points / 30 Day month cycle if Summit 18 is in October and my clock starts to click Jan 1, 2018.

Which could still be per day:

2 - 200+ character reviews - 10 points each

5 Photos per review - 25 points each

rate the place - 1 point each

—————————-

36 points

Answer auto questions - 10 questions each - 10 points

——————————

46 points per review x 2 review = 92 points

Then Answer “Check the Facts” questions, Answer Q&A questions, and/ or edit (for me to add a new place is extremely rare because of where I live) will give me the extra 15 points/day

= 107 points.

The secret sauce is Answer the Q&A questions because they are 3 points each IMHO and you can easily do that anywhere. I don’t have the patience for video taking / uploading.

Cheers,

Karen

@AlexPssn wrote:

@KarenVChin , I think Level 9 is 50,000 points, so you’ll have to redo your calculations.

I’m 25,147 points from level 9. So I’ll need to average 83 points per day (combination of 16 pics/reviews) for the next 10 months to reach level 9 by Summit 2018.

That is assuming,

there is another summit,

I make it to the summit,

I’m not sure when the summit submission deadline

What will be the level requirement for the next summit (Level 10?)

Either way, I have 10 months to double my points that took me 2 years to hit. I see a lot of Level 10 LGs have 5000+ photos, I’m at 1600, so I have a ways to catch up.

LucioV · December 14, 2017, 9:13pm

Someone reached this goal in just some months. It’s not impossible.

I’m not here, as you, to reach LVL10, but to help other choice at my best.

Anyway I think that actually, with around 200 points a day, and more than 68000 points, i could reach LVL 10 in around 160 days, so will be somewhere before the next summer

CourtenayV · December 15, 2017, 1:16am

Yes i agree with looking at it step by step and letting the passion to post win out over making a next level. But seems you guys have math down perhaps you can offer a paid service to help others see how they could go about it lol. Good work happy the post was unlocked!

colinchaffers · December 15, 2017, 5:06am

A long long time

MayskyM · December 15, 2017, 5:35am

“Reviews alone with more than 200 characters are 10 points”

So that’s why I got 500+ points all of a sudden. Good to know.

Speaking of level. I’ll never be able to reach Level 10.

YK1001 · December 15, 2017, 5:59am

Hi @JR_Curley ,

Some minor points:

Before we Review, we need to Rate. So actually we got 6 points for each review done.
Similarly, for each Long Reviews done, we got 11 points.
Answer Questions will got us 1 points per questions. It seems to me there are unlimited questions available for each place …
Post an reply to Q&A got us 3 points. We will got a prompt to post reply for Places we “touched”. Thus “touching” more Places will give us more leads.

Adding new places, sometimes needs to monitor Maps more closely. Because from time to time, there are new Categories for our region, so that we have new Places to add. Sometimes there are new interpretations to Mapping Rules, thus there are new Editing opportunities. Another good source of Points are 360 photos. Find some hiking trials / walking pathes that are not covered. Following the suggested 3 to 5 meters per shot, we just need to walk 60000-100000 meters.

As always, if we keep counting the points while we contribute, it will take forever. When we focus on the contributions, we will reach the milestones unexpectedly.