Google Maps gives an opportunity for everyone to share their experiences and stories through reviews, pictures and ratings. My time with Google Local Guide has been an exciting one. From posting pictures to solving issues of fellow local guides to sharing how my tours were, all of these give me a way to connect with people of multiple backgrounds.
Many a times I read stories in Local Guides Connect that move me and I make sure that I implement some of these ideas in my own community.
The place I come from, Raipur, is the capital of a Tribal state, Chhattisgarh. It is a state enriched in mineral resources, Sal and Teak trees, consisting of many tribal communities, Wild Bison and Hill Myna as its state animal and state bird respectively. This is a 19-year old state and every time, I think of the people here, it puts up a smile on my face.
I was visiting Marine Drive in Raipur, the most popular tourist place here, and came across many Local Guides who were recording their application videos for Connect Live 2019. Considering that the temperature gets up to 43 degree Celsius, you can imagine the passion for the community. It was such a proud moment for me as Level 10 Local Guide to interact with them and giving a few tips. Till last year, the photographers, enthusiastic travelers and reviewers were not connected through a single thread and now, Local Guides has become a sense of pride for us all. A sense of belonging-ness is what I feel here.
Here is a list of few things I absolutely like doing on Google Maps.
- Organizing Meet-Ups :
Chhattisgarh’s First Ever Local Guide Meet Up was a successful story. Hosting the event gave you an opportunity to meet new people and share stories. They became my friends who had same tastes and passion for guiding as me.
- Showing Off my City:
My enthusiasm level goes way up when someone asks me about my city. Google Maps does that every time I get out of my house.
- Telling about my favorite Food items and sharing the Local Dishes:
A secret is only fun when it is shared. Happiness is only real when it is shared. Google Maps lets me share my favorite places to hang out. This is the fun of it. You are always exploring and meeting your Favorite Dishes.
- Exploring the Historical Places/ Gift Shops/ Malls/ Shopping Stores/ Museums:
Google Maps has been a place for me where I have found the best of the Historical Places, Tourists Places, restaurants, gift corners and museums to go.
- Sharing about my Animals, Flowers, Food Experiences at Bangalore, Raipur & Kolkata:
I share Stories of the Animals near me that I find funny. The Food Stories from Bangalore are a favorite here.
- Reporting about the Clean India Mission:
Through my reviews and photos, I make sure that I highlight the places which have improved their cleanliness and are making an effort for it. This post about the area near my college still tells a frightening story.
- Curbing the spams:
Not something I enjoy doing though I have to do it so that the platform can stay up in quality. With so many people in India, there comes a lot of spammers who don’t know that their profiles can get deleted if they continue spamming the platform. My target is to tag these pictures, so that only the helpful pictures remain.
The days are just packed! But for Google Maps, I’m up in a heart-beat.
