It’s been a couple of months again since I checked if there were new categories added to the list of almost 4000 categories available to local guides, so this morning I decided to have a look once again. And my curiosity was rewarded once again: compared to the last time I checked, 9 categories have been added.
Especially people who like cats (I bet there’s a few out here) will be thrilled, as no less than 3 cat-related categories have been added to the list: Cat boarding service, Cat breeder and Cat trainer. With those added, the number of pet-/animal-related categories is beginning to get quite extensive - and thereby most likely more difficult to use correctly. So the suggestion @LudwigGermany made here to have a Categories Explained (?) post on pets definitely makes sense.
Some of the other new categories are linked to fireworks (Pyrotechnician), healthcare (Ayurvedic clinic, Doula), and beauty (Eyelash salon). A remarkable one is Tattoo artist, since there already was the category Tattoo shop (and also Tattoo and piercing shop - and for those who regret having gotten a tattoo there’s always Tattoo removal service). Perhaps the Tattoo shop is then meant as a place where several tattoo artists work, whereas Tattoo artist would then be meant for a place where only 1 person works? That interpretation could then justify quite a few category edits on POIs currently categorized as Tattoo shop. Don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments how you interpret this.
And finally there is one new category that I might use while editng a POI, but most likely will never use to look up places on Maps: Aircraft dealer. I’m simply not in the habit of buying airplanes all that often
Here’s the full list of new categories:
Aircraft dealer
Ayurvedic clinic
Cat boarding service
Cat breeder
Cat trainer
Doula
Eyelash salon
Pyrotechnician
Tattoo artist
If you want to find out more about recently added categories on Google Maps, you can find an overview post here.
This is cool work once again @JanVanHaver thank you!
I do wonder, given Maps is controlled by User Generated Content and since there is no dictionary that gives the meaning of a Maps category, perhaps we as Local Guides could collaborate over your list of categories and come up with a definition and an example for each one of them. This simply because if the absence of any published master list would become that list.
I noticed that some categories is not always translated in italian, they are in english also when you are in the italian version of Maps. There is a way to suggest a translation to some Googler?
Actually the Categories Explained series is an attempt to move in that direction @PaulPavlinovich . At first I intended to work on the complete 4000 entries list (as others have done before for specific languages) but that simply takes too much time before you can present any results. So I decided to focus on specific areas and suggest some of those definitions along the way. At the moment the list of possible focus areas is still growing, so I know what to do the next few months. The next step might indeed then be reaching out to others to help out with a structured approach for something like a category dictionary.
The source is not a secret @LudwigGermany , it’s a website that has been shared on Connect on various occasions already, by multiple local guides.
What I do exactly to figure out which ones are new, though, is something I have not given a lot of publicity yet. Perhaps I might reveal that in a special podcast episode
Crowdsource it @JanVanHaver get it all into a Google Sheet, pick some trusty volunteers and let them edit to their hearts content. If you had 20 people 4000 would be done in no time at all.
You might consider adding columns for regional differences.
A first pass could even be automated for the one word categories using the dictionary.
@FlavioDA the translated versions always show up a bit later. My experience with the newly added categories in the last 2 years or so is that they are all translated in the end.
I might do that indeed @PaulPavlinovich and it would be no surprise to me if you then turn out to be one of those trusty volunteers
There will then need to be people from a lot of different domains to make sure the entire list can be covered. And as you hinted at: determining which columns the spreadsheet needs to include and how they should be entered is a crucial part of the preparation.
Nice idea @JanVanHaver . But I do rarely find a cat care place like the one you categorized. In my own city, most of the cats are only fed normal and rarely visit the care as you categorized
@JanVanHaver I’m just here for the cat picture. I got seduced by the kitty on your post! And you kept mentioning categories here, categories there, new categories, old categories, strange categories… but all I saw was cat , cat , cat , cat , cat …
I would be happy to help. Categories are quite fascinating. I do agree that preparation and thinking is needed to avoid doing it all more than once @JanVanHaver
But seriously, good to know about freshies. All seem quite useful though not always very common (and therefore may be even more precious for those who need these services). I only suppose there might be some confusion with a tattoo artist. If I add a tattoo place without visiting it, I won’t have info if there’s one or more artists. That’s not critical as the service is the same but still I’d prefer to have everything perfectly categorized.
There are in my city two Hotels for cats and there’s not a category for that, some like “Hotel Boutique para Gatos”. The category as you see in the pictures is “Cuidador de mascotas” (person who take care of pets) and is not ok.
I was checking and yes, you’re right @JanVanHaver but those places are like a Hotel, there is not kennels, they’re free, in their room or in a common area. The owners call this place “Hotel”. I don’t know maybe is not so bad “Cuidador de mascotas” but for me sounds better “Hotel para gatos” haha
@SilvyC@JanVanHaver Ah… so it’s a hotel for humans and the hotel happens to also have cats running around everywhere… as opposed to a hotel for cats and humans can visit to look at the cats and say hi. I would class that as a boutique hotel I guess because of it’s niche attraction. I think
. I much appreciate on your work 
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, cat 
, cat 
, cat 
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