Ever wondered why I like contributing to Google Maps. Here’s a Sydney Morning Herald newspaper article I’m featured in online on Saturday 25 May 2024 and also in print in The Sun Herald on Sunday 26 May 2024. I guess I’m a “super reviewer” 
Here is what the article wrote:
Google reviewers post 20 million ratings a day, but what drives them?
by Amber Schultz
Nearly everything in Sydney is reviewable on Google. Bondi Beach has “stunning scenery,” according to one reviewer, but has “too much sand,” according to another.
The Sydney Opera House is “spectacular” and “unique” to some, but others focused on its “horrible parking” and a play with “ridiculous costumes”.
Coogee local Penny Christie is a Google “super reviewer”, helping locals and tourists get important details about the area.
The Lakemba Mosque is one of Sydney’s highest-rated locations at 4.9 stars, overtaking Hyde Park (4.6 stars) and the Sydney Harbour Bridge (4.7 stars). Perhaps unsurprisingly, Sydney’s lowest-rated locations include public toilets, parking garages and “dirty” takeaway joints.
These reviews and rankings are viewed by millions and are used to coordinate travel, choose a restaurant or learn key details about locations. They’re largely thanks to an expansive team of “local guides”, super reviewers who amass points by giving their two cents about their experience.
Local guides contribute more than 20 million reviews, photos and rankings across the globe every day. Google reviewers are not paid for their contributions.
Penny Christie is one of Sydney’s most prolific reviewers. She’s been doing it for a decade and has over 117,000 points on her Google Reviewer profile. The more posts, photos and views a review has, the higher the point score.
“I love gamification, and I’ve always taken photos, so this was just another way people can see my pictures,” she said.
She’s reviewed over 865 locations and posted more than 15,300 photos. More than 400 million people have viewed her pictures.
But Christie doesn’t do it only for the points. Christie relies heavily on others’ reviews to prepare for outings, which helps her anxiety. Realising how important this trove of information is for people like herself, she tries to give back.
“I want to be able to help people like they are helping me,” she said.
The 52-year-old, who also works as an Airbnb host and part-time customer service representative, averages two or three reviews a month rating everything from museums to McDonald’s.
Most locations receive a four or five-star review (except for Mcdonald’s on George Street, which scored three). She’s only given out a handful of one or two-star reviews, for a slow parcel delivery, restaurant with bland food and rundown textile store.
Christie includes information on what a place looks like, what sort of payment and parking options are offered, how to get there and how good the service is. A main focus of hers is providing details on inclusion and accessibility. These details score her “thumbs up” reactions from readers, driving up her point score.
Her most popular photo, an unassuming snap of the Sydney CBD Westfield Pitt street entrance, showing people how to get to Myer, has over 20 million views.
Christie said a large part of the appeal was the Google reviewer community. “There are over 150 million local guides around the world, and a lot of us connect via the Google site and share things like their achievements, local stories and how to do things,” she said.
She was flown to San Francisco by Google twice in 2018 and 2019 to visit the headquarters across a four-day trip.
“We got to meet the programmers and engineers and discuss what could be done better. It was awesome,” she said.
She’s also frequented the Google headquarters in Pyrmont, which has a rating of four stars, though most low ratings are people complaining about the search engine, not the office, giving talks on how to take photos and helping moderate other’s reviews.
Thank you 
Thanks 
