Some people have strong sense of directions but unfortunately I’m not one of them. I can find myself lost after a few left and right turns. You might think my weak sense of direction would discourage me from going to places, but not really. Getting lost became a part of the process going from point A to point B, and going in the wrong direction only meant I needed to make a turn around. It could be compared to how you must boil water to make tea or preheat the oven to bake some cookies.
Over the last few years the quick development and wide acceptance of wireless high speed data and smart phones have been a life changing phenomena to everyone’s lives. When you wake up in the morning, the first thing you grab onto is your smart phone and it is also the last thing you put down before bed at night. Needless to mention the many things we do on our smart phone everyday, it is definitely one of few things we cannot live without. A familiar phrase; “There’s an app for this and an app for that”. While it is true we have many apps on our phone, not all of them are as useful. Among these apps, Google Maps is one of highest utility apps on my phone.
Planning my route on Google Maps is second to starting my car engine, and buckling up only comes third after my navigation is ready to go. The early days of Google Maps were promising but not without flaw, since at times it would direct me to the wrong location. However, these errors got fixed quickly. I like to think my submissions for wrong locations have helped improved the accuracy of Google Maps and that’s how I started making contributions as user. It was a give-and-take relationship. Something had to be given in order for it to be taken. Thus if I wanted an accurate navigation that will take me to the right location every time, I should take parts in making it better. Collectively, users shared information and everyone benefited.
In my opinion, Google Maps have evolved into a guide. It started as a navigation map but has expanded its function into an interactive guide for locals and travelers. Whenever I search up a business, I usually like to look at the photos more so than reading the reviews. A picture is worth a thousands words. I like to browse through the pictures other users have shared and often I would make my decision about a business based on these pictures. I would continue to give ratings, share reviews with lots of pictures. It could be pictures of surrounding area and the establishment itself, which greatly improve the ease of finding a place. Or pictures of food and drinks of restaurants. Knowledge is power, and collectively by sharing information we can make Google Maps the guide everyone will enjoy using.