The beauty of Google Maps is that you can go to any place you’ve never been before and still easily find your way around. Not only does it provide a map, one can also see other people’s experiences with a place, product and/or service. This is where the role of Local Guides shine as one can glean a wealth of knowledge just from a map app. I myself love to share photos the most on Google Maps. When Local Guides share their know-how, travellers can make better decisions on where to go and what to do.
One thing about being a Local Guide, though, is that you are so familiar with the place certain things become “invisible”. Objects or features that are very utilitarian can be ignored unconsciously. They may be mundane or maybe not. An example could be a sunscreen design of a building’s facade.
Sometimes an extreme close-up of an entrance you walk by everyday, is all a newcomer needs to find the subway mall.
Things that you take for granted may very well be key information to a first time visitor….
…Or it could trigger inspiration to a local who has always seen that object but is now “seeing” it for the first time again. Sometimes I lean towards this creative side. I walk around the city and try to see places with fresh eyes. I just use my smartphone, I’m not a professional photographer (not even close to amateur). I shoot unusual, non-popular perspectives. It could be rooflines of building clusters, or back alley aircon ducts and pipes. Some I share as they could prove useful, some I keep to myself and reinterpret them in paintings.
Maps have so much to offer for people of different interests. I love sharing on Google Maps as a Local Guide, be it straight up eye-level pictures or semi-artistic photos. Hopefully Maps would have more features in the future. It would be great if we could post artistic photographs and locate them in Maps including the orientation of the shot, something like a List, but maybe also like a Layer. Also if it’s possible to create more place categories other than the currently accepted ones, that would be welcomed. Or maybe this exists already, I just didn’t dig enough, let me know.
So, there it is, photos are what I like sharing the most on Google Maps…And good luck to everyone applying for Connect Live 2019!