Besides searching for routes and directions, Google maps is undoubtedly the most common and convenient way to find popular restaurants, stores, and spots to check out when visiting an unfamiliar location.
Personally, I like to share my comments and photos about the restaurants and accommodations which I’ve been to in my city (Taipei), and in English.
I use Google maps quite often, especially before going into a restaurant. Reviews shared by netizens on Google maps are really helpful at these moments. And this inspired me to start sharing my reviews on Google maps. As a foodie and traveler, I like to eat and hang around in my city. Thus, I want to offer my own comments, no matter good or bad ones, hoping they can help the people who needs or is interested in the information, just as how other people’s reviews had helped me.
But writing reviews is nothing special. There are hundreds and even thousands of people in my city is doing the same thing. So, this becomes my WHY for sharing my reviews ‘‘in English’’. Taiwan’s native language is Chinese, so the reviews for locations in Taipei are mostly --90 percent, if not 100 percent-- written in Chinese, which makes sense. However, I hope my reviews can not only help people from Taiwan, but also foreign visitors! This is also a simple concept, if a foreign traveler is visiting Taipei, he/she would probably want to know, not only the rankings, what Taipei LOCALS say in the reviews for the spots. While the results usually turn out to be frustrating as they are written in Chinese, which foreigners can hardly understand. Even if they happen to find a review in English sometimes, it is usually also from a foreign visitor but not a local; and the store is crowded with tourists, not somewhere that the locals would recommend.
As described above, I share my reviews on restaurants, accommodations in my city (Taipei) in English, in order to help both Taiwanese and foreign visitors explore more about my city.