Frustration Over Google Maps Edits Rejections

[ErgecS]

Dear Google Maps Support Team,

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to express my deep frustration and disappointment regarding the recent handling of my Google Maps edits. I have been actively contributing to Google Maps by submitting edits for several years, and it has come to my attention that a vast majority of these edits have been consistently rejected, with no apparent justification.

My frustration particularly stems from the fact that even in the area where I reside, and where I have dedicated considerable effort to make accurate edits, none of them seem to be accepted. Whether it’s updating outdated information, adding newly opened places, or correcting the location of existing ones, all my efforts have been met with rejection. This situation has led to a Google Maps platform filled with outdated and inaccurate information, significantly affecting its usability and reliability.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that I have a registered business, a university campus, linked to my Google account. Even changes made within this campus, which I believe I should have intimate knowledge of, have been consistently rejected. This begs the question: Who knows the intricacies of my university campus better than me? It is disheartening to see that edits to such a location are also dismissed without a clear rationale.

I understand that the Google Maps editing process involves a community of reviewers, and I respect their role in ensuring the quality of the platform. However, I am at a loss as to why so many of my valid and well-documented edits are being rejected, leaving the platform with outdated and inaccurate information. I would appreciate more transparency in the review process and specific feedback on why my edits are being denied.

I am a dedicated Google Maps user, and I take pride in contributing to the accuracy of the platform. However, my enthusiasm is waning due to the repeated rejections of my edits. I implore you to investigate this matter and take steps to improve the review process, ensuring that valid contributions are not overlooked.

I look forward to your response and a resolution to this issue. Google Maps has the potential to be an invaluable tool for users worldwide, but it can only achieve this with the active involvement and trust of its dedicated contributors.

Sincerely,
Ergeç

[Mikeinthefalls]

@ErgecS A very concise and well written post. It sounds like you have multiple reasons to be frustrated.

Do you have a screenshot of your most recent edit attempts? That may help clarify some details.

[ErgecS]

I’ve included some screenshots to show what’s been happening. Because my edits keep getting rejected, I haven’t been actively contributing to Google Maps for a while now.

[Foodglobetrotter]

Same matters with rejected post. The algorithm is sensitive

[MortenCopenhagen]

Hi @ErgecS

You need to click the > pointing down before taking screenshots, so we can see what edits you proposed (when not only Map marker or Closed).

Also, if you claimed the university successfully, the Google Business Program is where you would find relevant help, and not here in the Local Guides Community (Connect) which is for volunteers only.

Cheers

Morten

[NoemiJ]

Where do you even see the list of your suggested edits being Pending/accepted/rejected? I didn’t know you can check up on them

[Mikeinthefalls]

@NoemiJ Scroll to the bottom of your Maps profile and click on Edits

[JanVanHaver]

@ErgecS I have no idea if it is the case here, but in some places/regions/countries edits to Google Maps are simply never accepted (even when they are 100% correct) - typically for (geo-)political reasons. I have no exact knowledge what the current situation is in Cyprus, but I do believe that there still is some sort of conflict between the two parts of Cyprus. Google might be doing this (not accepting edits) to avoid getting entagled in political discussions.

Or did your edits get approved in the past and stopped being approved recently?

[ErgecS]

Indeed, my edits received high acceptance rates, and I even contributed to mapping roads during the early days of Google Maps.

Yes, the conflict is still ongoing, and if this is indeed the primary reason for not accepting edits, I’m unsure how to react to that.

[JanVanHaver]

As I mentioned @ErgecS I have no way of knowing if that is the reason behnd it - just speculation on my side.

But there is a way we can test my threory. I just made an edit to a place in northern Cyprus (the place name was in ALL CAPS and there was a photo clearly showing the name of the shop, so I changed the name to lower caps - a type of edit you can make all over the globe) and that is now in status Pending… let’s see if that gets approved or rejected.

And perhaps you can try to make an edit in another country (there are places with their name in ALL CAPS everywhere, if you scroll a bit around in any country, you shold come across some) and then see what happens. If that edit gets approved, Cyprus as location might indeed be the problem.

[JanVanHaver]

One more thing @ErgecS , which is quite important here on the forum: if you want to make sure that another Connect user sees a reply you give, make sure to ‘tag’ them by typing the ‘@’ symbol and then select that user from the list (or start typing the name if there is no list).

[ErgecS]

@JanVanHaver If you review my second post with screenshots, you’ll notice that the first one was simply changing an all-caps place name to lowercase, and even that edit was rejected. Nevertheless, I’ll give it another try and see what happens.

[JanVanHaver]

Indeed @ErgecS that was the point I was trying to make: perhaps all edits to places in Cyprus by all local guides are getting rejected.That’s why I suggestec that you could make an edit in another country to test the hypothesis.

My edit in Cyprus is still pending (meaning it was not automatically rejected by the algorithm - which in fact speaks against the hypothesis). Wait & see…

[JanVanHaver]

My ‘no edits allowed at all there’ hypothesis can be rejected @ErgecS … the name edit I submitted was approved.

[ErgecS]

@JanVanHaver My business name changes have been approved, but requests for new places and closed/relocated businesses are still pending. I expect that those will eventually be rejected.

[JanVanHaver]

@ErgecS Check out this post by @YuliiaZa about makinjg edits in Ukraine - or in fact the impossibility to do so for a long time. Also in her experience adding new businesses was one of the last types of edits to ‘return’.

[ErgecS]

@JanVanHaver I’ve hatched a plan! Tomorrow, I’ll fire up Google Maps, activate GPS, navigate to the previous locations of those moved departments in campus, and unleash my downvote or any available “place doesn’t exist” actions. If this doesn’t work, I’m out of ideas!

[YuliiaZa]

As @JanVanHaver has mentioned, there can be such periods of rejections. Apart from the situation with the current war in Ukraine, I had another period of mass rejections several years ago, and other Ukrainian Local Guides reported the same issue. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the exact time and whether it was related to some political or other crucial circumstances. Anyway, all we had to do was to wait. In the course of time, edits started to be approved again. So, making a pause in your edits might be a reasonable option for you, @ErgecS .