What are the photos that get featured at natural wonders such as waterfalls, valleys, mountain peaks, …?
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Hi @Ayush18
Just like any places of interest (POI), be it a business or park, the photos that get featured are selected by Google’s AI no doubt based on many factors including is this the first photo of the POI, quality of other photos if any added to that POI, and of course the quality (e.g. not blurry or in low resolution), currency, appropriateness or relevancy (i.e. shows the current state of the natural site), policy compliance, and how well a photo represents the location. No doubt there are other mysterious factors and humans might from time to time be involved in the selection process. I should also mention that there are many great articles here on Connect that will guide you in terms of what photos should you share on Google Maps and this article here might be of interest to you.
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@AdamGT and @Ayush18 It really is a mystery. I’m still shocked at what happened on an overseas trip last year when I visited a location. I took photos of specific details at that location, but the one that immediately got thousands of views was the bushy overgrown entrance to the place. If I’d chosen to upload only one photo, it wouldn’t have been that one.
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Funnily @tony_b where you say “If I’d chosen to upload only one photo, it wouldn’t have been that one”, this is precisely how I felt back in January 2020 when I took and added the photo shown below on Maps and I asked the question Is there a reason why sometimes the least expected photo can be the star? From this, this curiosity led to the quest to find answers and to what we know today to be the Top 100 Leaderboards.
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