Wow!
It just reaffirms how disciplined you are
Very few people keep money as souvenirs. If any, Maybe coins @ErmesT
Thanks for the clarification.
I never knew there was a place called Polska too
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Oh noo, @Ewaade_3A , that’s what remained in my pocket at the end of the trip. I usually never exchanged back the banknotes, because I was used to keep them for the next trip on the place, and we are taking about small amounts, not even enough for a dinner in a restaurant, but enough for a coffee.
Polska is the local name of Poland
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@ErmesT me pasa lo mismo, por si vuelvo, siempre dejo billetes y monedas. Y no alcanzan para un café siquiera, a veces.
Saludos desde Uruguay 
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@ErmesT en efecto, esta es una gran comunidad, al final tenemos que entender que el dinero es un freno y no lo es todo, el conocimiento es el que realmente tiene un peso, y oye, si no estás conforme, no participes, nadie te obliga, muchas otras plataformas te ofrecen un botín. Viva nuestro planeta.
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@HUMBERTO_V de acuerdo contigo.
Saludos desde Uruguay
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Interesting post @ErmesT and certainly a topic that I see pop up more and more frequently (even on my YouTube channel where folks think I’m a tool for doing free work for Google! 
).
I will buck the trend and play devil’s advocate on the matter of getting paid for our contributions. However, since I’m already spending my free time on this, I will not do Google’s work and try and figure out a workable solution for them 
Firstly, Google’s revenue is mainly (and by a far margin) coming from their search engine. In second place are ads on YouTube. This basically pays for all the various free Google services that we all love. However, there’s increasing pressure from stakeholders for Google to grow their revenue year on year and it’s not a big surprise if ads start appearing in other areas as well… which leads me to…
I am already seeing ‘advertisements’ in my Google Maps; the square icons that when you click on will show that it is an advertisement. I’m not sure how the ad works and who they are shown too or whether it’s rolled out globally or just for certain countries. It’s definitely showing up in the UK region and judging on the support page, it is certainly a real thing. And, as far as I’m aware, ads have been in Google Maps for a while usually only appearing when you’re searching for something but the new thing (i.e. the square icons) are now there on Maps even without a search.
It’s a no brainer to think that Maps could be a big revenue stream for Google so naturally, folks are asking about getting some cut from it especially if user contributions play a big role in driving eyeballs to ads.
And as much as I too adhere to the volunteer spirit of this community, I like to think of Maps in the same vein as YouTube; it’s a free service where top quality user contributions are paid based on certain metrics. What those metrics are is certainly something that Google needs to figure out to avoid folks gaming the system or adding low quality content.
Some spit balling of ideas/thoughts:
- a trust score based on various inputs e.g. views, likes, history, accuracy, manual curation etc.
- a tier system (much like YouTube) where you need to achieve a certain trust score before you are ‘paid’ for your contributions.
- incorporating Google My Business so that business owners can help contribute to the trust scores e.g. a Like from a business owner is a strong increase to your trust score. Maybe even have a physical way to validate that someone has been to the shop e.g. a unique QR code that the business owner will show at the till that customer can scan to then submit their reviews/photos/videos i.e. this can help validate that a person has been to the shop
- the payment for user contributions are done in a way that de-emphasise real money e.g. rather than getting paid in real money, maybe you’ll get a voucher for a free drink from one of several participating stores. This is win-win in that the money goes to local businesses and users still get ‘paid’. Also, unlike YouTube, users can’t be instant millionaires from contributing to Maps. I just can’t see this happening because the contributions to Maps are very different to those on YouTube so the rewards have to be proportional.
- getting ‘paid’ for your reviews may not be a bad thing. Firstly, it may attract quality reviewers away from competing review sites to start adding their reviews on Maps instead (or as well as). Secondly, having a tiered system where only good contributors are paid could also help push people to be a bit more serious about what they upload.
Personally, I wouldn’t complain if my usual contributions get me a free cup of coffee every now and then. Or get me an invite to a new opening etc. I’m not expecting to pay my bills off my contributions but I sure wouldn’t mind the satisfaction of being a trusted contributor (and that free cuppa). Getting paid or not, I think Google has a very real challenge of getting users to regularly contribute on Google Maps.
Anyway, just my thoughts… 
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Thank you so much for sharing your feeling here @indahnuria .
Reading your always helpful reviews can easily end in the “are you a professional reviewer?” question. Unfortunately it is not always the same for everyone, and many, perhaps deceived by the encouraging emails arriving from Google, think that a two-word review (for example “very good” repeated everywhere) deserves to be paid. An interesting example can be found is in this reply by @gmapas in @MortenCopenhagen 's post who right now talks about the other great topic of this moment in the Local Guides world: hidden reviews.
Many years ago, when I was studying Political Science at the University of Padua, I was very impressed by a friend of mine’s degree thesis, which talked about “how to evaluate the value of a gift”. It was the 80s, and thinking of the immeasurable value of something that had no cost, because it had been donated, was a concept that forced everyone to think out of the box, and that gave value to all those social volunteering activities that were springing up.
The concept was recently mentioned by @TravellerG in this thread, when he recalled @AmbrishVarshney 's signature: “Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless”.
So I wanted to challenge myself, and everyone who want to respond, trying to imagine a version of Google Maps where reviews were paid, and the related implications. I think only a few understand the first concept: the numbers. How many are 150 million Local Guides?
- 30 times the population of the country where you are right now
- 6 times the population of Australia
- 5 times the population of California
Understanding this would perhaps help to better understand what they are asking with the phrase “Google should pay us”
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Hello Ermest Ji,
Very valuable interaction with our @indahnuria - your response is very valuable…& touching too.
Thank you for referring my response in your reply.
Greetings with regards, dear @ErmesT
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Right. We found our way here fy whatever reason (varies by person) and no one is forcing us to contribute. If it’s not fun to you, then don’t do it!
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Hola @NexusKC simple y clarito.
Saludos desde Uruguay
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Sorry for responding so late @HUMBERTO_V . I am offline most of the time during the weekend.
I agree with you about money, and in any case I believe we must think about that. Do they really believe they bill become reach with a few hundred photos and in most of the cases about people who want to be paid, also a huge amount of selfies. I know they have a high self esteem, but I think they should check what they add first.
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@ErmesT I also have complicated weekends, I understand you. 
The problem is that other platforms encourage getting rich quick by content. Here the wealth is in our knowledge, it is a gift for a better world. And that is hard to understand.
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Grazie per le tue parole, @DENIT33 , che sono sinceramente apprezzate.
Certo, convivere con una Guida Locale può essere una esperienza “particolare” e credo che @AntonellaGr ne sappia qualcosa.
Ma credo che abbiamo avuto in cambio anche delle gratificazioni importanti che, anche se non sono state di natura economica, ci hanno fornito direzione e strumenti per portare avanti le nostre idee.
Purtroppo credo che una brutta abitudine sia quello di non dare valore a quello che riceviamo gratuitamente. Nel passato pagavo 100 € all’anno per aggiornare il mio navigatore satellitare (2 aggiornamenti all’anno) mentre ora ho un sistema di navigazione gratuito e sempre aggiornato. Se voglio andare in qualche luogo leggo prima le recensioni e guardo le immagini pubblicate da guide locali come me. Se ho bisogno di qualche informazione le cerco utilizzando il motore di ricerca di Google. Gestisco la mia posta elettronica, utilizzo fogli di calcolo e un editor di testo, preparo le mie presentazioni, archivio le mie immagini, e negli ultimi 6 anni non ho speso nulla per tutto ciò. Io personalmente do valore a questo, e so di aver risparmiato almeno un migliaio di Euro rispetto a quello che utilizzavo a pagamento, con in più il fatto che adesso ho una funzionalità migliore.
In più ho a disposizione strumenti di mappatura come Google Earth e Google My Maps che mi permettono di portare avanti le mie attività di volontariato
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Grazie @ErmesT , per la tua generosa risposta.
Sono pienamente d’accordo con tutto. Non si riflette mai abbastanza come tutto questo diventa accessibile a tutti e diventa visibilità per molti che non avrebbero potuto reggere costi ulteriori per le loro attività.
Poi come sempre il gratis, dopo un po’, diventa un dovuto come si reggesse in piedi da solo. Questo diventerà il mio cavallo di battaglia per quando mi prenderanno in giro per il tempo che dedico….
Ps: Comunque non ti nascondo che mi piacerebbe vedere la sede di Google, un bel ritrovo in US tra local guides. A sentire le vostre testimonianze è stato fantastico!!! 
Per fortuna sognare è gratuito.
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Occasionally, I humor myself with the thought of “what if Google paid me 1 penny for every photo view?” No doubt, Google greatly benefits from our collective contributions. However, I concur that financial compensation for our contributions would lead to a host of other problems. Money would invite even more spammers to find ways to abuse the system, likely to the detriment to current local guides as to those who benefit from our contributions on Google Maps. For me, I find the non-monetary compensation to be meaningful, as I am able to participate in the Local Guides Community and help others.
Thanks for initiating the discussion!
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Thank you for your words, @Theenan , I agree with you.
That’s why I want to talk about this subject
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@clif_the_tall , YouTube is adding advertisement in the monetized content and, beyond what you hear around, do you have an idea of what the requirements are to be considered a YouTube creator, and how many views you should have in order to live with what you produce on YouTube? The entry conditions are 1000 subscribers to your channel and over 4000 hours of views in the last 12 months. To receive $3,000 in a year, you should have at least 850,000 views of your content.
Do you want a Map full of advertisement like YouTube, maybe while you are driving?
I am proud to be a volunteer too, @JuanAudelo2024 , because it gives me the possibility to explore the way I prefer to contribute, without any pressure
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In principle I fully agree with you, @FrancescDomingo . Unfortunately we frequently have numerous abuses, and I have personally seen (former) Local Guides even of Level 10 build a high level by uploading dozens and dozens of inconsistent photos for each place only to then attempt inappropriate edits, or create non-existent places.
Unfortunately this type of behavior has influenced the creation of more stringent filters. Going back to the Map Maker era, where contributions were filtered by people who were supposed to be “trusted”, some abuses of this trust resulted in the creation of bad places, which even now are sometimes impossible to fix.
Unfortunately, the abuses of a few have inevitably influenced the possibility of many honest Local Guides to contribute easily.
Hi ErmesT! This is Kurt, currently a graduate student at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. As a researcher in platform studies and Big Data, it is really interesting to see that Local Guide users hold different opinions on whether they should be paid for their contribution to Google Maps.
I am not a local guide, but I am researching Google Maps, and I want to share some pop-ups of my brain. Lana Swartz in Another Economy Is Possible writes “that the invisible work of the development and maintenance of technological systems, by virtue of its invisibility, can be seen as a form of infrastructural care work”. That argument perfectly fits in the case of Local Guide. I think Local Guide helps build the up-to-dateness of Google Maps, just as Google indicates, “The world is a vast and constantly changing place. Think about how frequently restaurants in your neighborhood come and go”. An accurate reflection of cartographical information depends largely on immediacy, and this is really hard to ensure in such a rapidly urbanized society and Google Maps is largely indebted to crowdsourcing. Therefore, I think your contribution to Google Maps, is what "housewifized” domestic labor (taking care of the children, cleaning the room, etc.) to the formal economy outside the house. It is necessary and valuable! I don’t know whether this connection can make sense, but it indeed invites us to revisit local guides’ relations to Google. I really appreciate your starting such a discussion!
By the way, this semester I am working in Professor Manuel Castells’ research group “Economic Cultures”, and I am attempting to write a journal article about the unrewarding nature of Google Local Guide’s contribution. I am impressed by your idea and really want to interview and learn from you. I don’t know how to dm via connect, and if there’s any possibility for me to establish a connection with you, please email me at xinyuden@usc.edu